The possibility of long-term climate change continues to be a concern and focus for scientific investigations and for the development of government policies and international agreements. However, for commercial interests, especially in agriculture and water resources, seasonal climate anomalies and short-term climatic variability, as well as possible long-term trends, are important. This report is the best description of recent climatic variations and changes that we can assemble immediately after the end of the past calendar year. Subsequently, the scientific community will examine in greater detail the evidence we have put forward at this time. Although many components of the global climate system are not fully described, this report intends to assess annual changes in the circulation, structure and constituents of the atmosphere, and changes in surface conditions of temperature, precipitation, snow and ice. It describes the evolution of ENSO during the past year, and identifies major, regional climatic events around the world.
The climate of 1996 can be characterized by several phenomena that reflect substantial deviations from the mean state of the atmosphere persisting fro...
The El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon is a major contributor to the observed year-to-year variability in the Pacific Ocean and in the glo...
The global climate during 1998 was affected by opposite extremes of the ENSO cycle, with one of the strongest Pacific warm episodes (El Niño) in the ...
The global climate during 1997 was affected by both extremes of the El NiÒoñSouthern Oscillation (ENSO), with weak Pacific cold episode conditions p...
From a global perspective, the annual average surface temperature in 2004 was the fourth highest value observed since regular instrumental records beg...
Neutral ENSO conditions at the beginning of 2002 gave way to a strengthening El Niño episode during boreal summer. Weather patterns in many areas of ...
The global mean temperature in 2008 was slightly cooler than that in 2007; however, it still ranks within the 10 warmest years on record. Annual mean ...
The combined land and ocean surface temperature in 2007 fell within the 10 highest on record, while the average land temperature was the warmest since...
For the first time in several years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Niña d...
In 2013, the vast majority of the monitored climate variables reported here maintained trends established in recent decades. ENSO was in a neutral sta...
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