. Earth Science News .
2006 Was China's Hottest Year In A Half-Century

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (pictured), viewed as a barometer of the health of the world's climate, recorded record highs, Xinhua quoted bureau experts as saying.
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Feb 20, 2007
The year 2006 was China's hottest in half a century, with more than a third of climate observation stations on the Tibet plateau registering all-time high temperatures, state media reported Tuesday. China's average temperature was 9.9 degrees Celsius (49.8 Fahrenheit) last year, making it the hottest since 1951, Xinhua news agency said, quoting data supplied by the China Meteorological Bureau. The report offered few other details.

But the bureau's top official, Qin Dahe, said earlier this month that a rash of extreme weather phenomena in 2006, such as droughts and severe typhoons, was likely due to higher temperatures caused by greenhouse gas-induced global warming.

Thirteen out of 39 state climate observation stations on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, viewed as a barometer of the health of the world's climate, recorded record highs, Xinhua quoted bureau experts as saying.

On Monday, the agency quoted bureau meteorologists as forecasting average temperatures could rise in China by a startling 3.9 to 6.0 degrees by 2100, higher than global estimates by the UN.

They also predicted more extreme weather for China, including severe rainfall in heavily populated eastern China, drought in other areas and a rapid retreat of glaciers in Tibet and other areas of China.

China is expected to surpass the United States as the world's largest producer of climate-changing gases by 2010.

But Qin said earlier this month that China lacks the money and technology to shift significantly from its current reliance on heavily polluting coal-fired power stations.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Email This Article

Related Links
Weather News at TerraDaily.com

ISRO To Launch Three Weather Satellites
Ahmedabad, India (PTI) Feb 15, 2007
India will get sharper eyes to track ravaging cyclones and forecast monsoon when the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launches the indigenously built INSAT-3D and Oceansat-2 satellites next year. "The INSAT-3D satellite will be one of the three weather satellites that ISRO will launch in the next couple of years," said Abhijit Sarkar, a scientist at the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of ISRO here.







  • Indonesia To Use Concrete Balls To Plug "Mud Volcano"
  • Keeping The Phones Ringing During Disaster Relief In Mozambique
  • Chicago Exchange To Launch Hurricane Futures
  • Indonesia To Relocate Key Railway Threatened By Mud Volcano

  • Russia, Kyoto Protocol And Climate Change
  • In Chilly Washington Global Warming Gets New Airing
  • Blair Wants New Climate Change Deal Before Exit
  • US Offered Lucrative Lure Of Global Carbon Trading

  • 3D Upstart Eyes Google Earth With Helicopter
  • ESA Celebrates 15 Years Of Near-Real Time Data Delivery In Earth Observation
  • Gascom To Launch 4 Smotr Low-Orbit Remote Sensing Satellites
  • GeoEye Makes Final Debt Payment For The Purchase Of Space Imaging

  • Scientists Convert Heat To Power Using Organic Molecules
  • Wild Grass Could Hold Key To Clean Fuels Of The Future
  • For US Global Warming Is Now Hot
  • Australia To Clip Greenhouse Gas Emmissions With Phase Out Of Inefficient Lighting

  • Scientists On The Way To Sifting Out A Cure For HIV
  • End The Black AIDS Plague
  • British Company In Bird Flu Outbreak May Cut Jobs
  • Large-Scale Trial Of HIV Vaccine Launched In South Africa

  • Rat Like Senses A Whisker Away From Humans
  • Antarctic Warming To Reduce Animals At Base Of Ecosystem As Penguin Shift South
  • Researchers Untangle Nature Of Regressive Evolution In Cavefish
  • World Shark Attacks Rise Slightly But Continue Long-Term Dip

  • Sand Latest Irritant In Singapore Regional Ties
  • Ivory Coast Toxic Dump Victims Upset Over Pay Deal
  • EasyJet Chief Says Business Travellers Have Role In Saving Environment
  • Britain Launches Investigation Into Monsanto Toxic Waste

  • Neuroscientists Explain Inner Workings Of Critical Pain Pathway
  • Human Ecological Footprint In 2015 And Amazonia Revealed
  • Risk Of Extinction Accelerated Due To Interacting Human Threats
  • Carnegie Mellon Student Develops Mood-Sharing Gadget To Help Computer Users Express Their Feelings

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement