DOHA (Reuters) – the fact that the ice of the Arctic Ocean has melted this year up to register their lowest levels, along with other extreme climate variations, is a sign that the “climate change is happening right in front of our eyes”, said on Wednesday the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

the first 10 months of the 2012 marked the ninth register warmer since they began in the mid-nineteenth century, measurements and the initial months were cooled by the climatic phenomenon of “La Nina” in the Pacific, according to a report published during the talks on climate change in Doha.

various regions have suffered extreme droughts, floods and heat waves the number of storms in the world was higher than normal, but some, like Cyclone Sandy that affected the Caribbean and northeastern United States, were particularly devastating, said the WMO.

< p> “The extent of the ice in the Arctic Ocean has reached a new minimum. the alarming rate of melting of this year highlighted the extreme changes that are occurring in the biosphere and oceans of the Earth”, said Michel Jarraud, head of the organization with headquarters in Geneva.

“climate change is happening right in front of our eyes and will continue as a result of the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which rise steadily and have reached new highs,” he added in a statement.

natural phenomena that help cool the climate as “La Niña” do not alter “the underlying trend long term an increase in temperatures due to climate change, as a result of human activities”, said Jarraud.

the WMO is a United Nations agency and has 190 States and territories members.

< p> Het verslag betoogd dat, tijdens de eerste negen maanden van 2012, de temperatuur van het oppervlak van het land en oceanen in de wereld van 0,45 graden Celsius gemiddelde niveaus overtroffen betekent overeenkomt met de periode van 1961 tot 1990 van 14,2 graden Celsius.

wereldwijd, de tropische stormen van die periode waren dicht bij het gemiddelde van 85 tussen 1981 en 2010, met 81 cyclonen dit jaar. Sanfa Typhoon waarop de Filipijnen, Japan en het Koreaanse schiereiland was de meest intense 2012.

in de Atlantische Oceaan bekken presenteerde een hoger dan normale activiteit voor het derde achtereenvolgende jaar, zei de document. de meest prominente fenomeen was de superstorm Sandy, die landen van het Caribisch gebied en de Verenigde Staten getroffen.

hoge temperaturen getroffen met name Noord-Amerika, Zuid-Europa, West en het centrum van Rusland en Zuidwest-Azië, zei de WMO. veel van de Verenigde Staten en Europa werden geregistreerd in extreme hittegolven vanaf maart aan mei.

/ per Alister Doyle /