The fingerprints of climate change can be found all over Australia’s record-breaking year in 2016.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement, released today, shows a number of records were broken in 2016 – from land, ocean and seasonal temperatures, through to above average rainfall.
According to BoM, in 2016 the national mean temperature jumped by 0.87°C above the 1961-1990 average.
Ocean temperatures were the warmest ever experienced in Australia, with the annual sea surface mean temperature rising to 0.73°C above average.
Annual rainfall was 17% above average and Australia recorded its warmest Autumn on record, influenced by a strong El Niño.
The record-breaking year included some of the worst impacts of climate change seen in Australia to date, including the Great Barrier Reef’s worst ever coral bleaching event, a huge mangrove die-off in Northern Australia and World Heritage forests razed by bushfires in Tasmania.
For all the detail, head to the BoM website.
Image credits:
- Video and charts: Bureau of Meteorology
- Sunset: Steve Davidson CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons