Signs of Global Warming Strong in Korea
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A set of weather changes signaling global warming have been observed around the Korean peninsula throughout this year, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said in an annual report Monday.
The KMA described this year as ``sizzling and humid,'' saying the average temperature of the year was the fifth highest since 1912 when Korea adopted modern meteorological technology, while precipitation notably increased.
``The average temperature for the first 10 months was 14.44 degree Celsius, the fifth highest in KMA history," it said. The highest was recorded in 1998, and the other three from the top were set in 2005, 2003 and 2002, indicating the pace of global warming around the Korean peninsula has gained momentum since the new millennium.
Nearly 781 millimeters of rainfall drenched the country in the last summer along, a 12 percent increase from previous years, KMA said.
``Despite the increase, most parts of the country were warmer this year than previous years,'' the KMA noted.
The average temperature in spring ― technically defined between March and May ― set a new record of 12.6 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record of 11.5 degrees in 1973, it said.
``An unusual expansion of a continental high pressure from Kamchatka in Russia was attributable to the phenomenon," said Yook Myung-ryul, a KMA official.
In a previous report, the KMA cited the fast urbanization of Korea and neighboring countries including China and ensuing increased green house gas emission as a major culprit behind the warming.
The report, based on research by the Korea Global Atmosphere Watch Center, found the density of carbon dioxide and other major greenhouse gases was higher here than elsewhere between 1999 and 2008.
The carbon dioxide density around the peninsula last year stood at 391.4 parts per million (ppm), compared with 370.7 ppm in 1999. But the global average increased from 367.6 ppm in 1999 to 384.9 ppm in 2008.
The latest report also found that manmade climate change is posing a grave threat to the Arctic.
``Its size shrank to nearly 510 million square kilometers in September, the third smallest since 1979," the KMA official said. The smallest was 430 million square kilometers in 2007.
According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international decision-making body established to provide information on climate change, if the current pace persists, the world's average temperature will increase by 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2090, raising the sea level by 59 centimeters.
If so, the IPCC warned, more than 300 million people around the world living in coastal areas or on islands are expected to lose their homes due to rising sea levels and more than 10 percent of all species now existing will become extinct.