年是史上最热年份 Global warming and El Nino make hottest on record

Global warming and a powerful El weather event combined to make 2015 the planet’s hottest year since modern records began in the 1800s, according to scientists, who warned this year could be even warmer.

科学家表示，全球变暖加上强大的厄尔尼诺气候事件，令2015年成为自19世纪现代记录开始以来最热年份。科学家还警告，今年地球可能会更热。

Heatwaves around the world, including one in India that led to more than 2,000 deaths and another in Iraq that saw the mercury top 50C, helped push temperatures 1C above pre-industrial levels for the first time, US and UK researchers said.

去年热浪席卷了全球，印度的高温天气导致2000多人死亡，伊拉克夏季高温达到50摄氏度。美国和英国的研究人员表示，在各地高温的推动下，去年气温首次比工业化之前的水平升高了1摄氏度。

Temperatures in 2015 also shattered the previous record set in 2014 by 0.13C, according to Nasa.

美国航天局(Nasa)表示，2015年气温以0.13摄氏度之差，打破了2014年创下的记录。

“Only once before, in 1998, has the new record been greater than the old record by this much,” the administration added.

美国航天局还表示：“新记录比旧记录高出这么多，以前只有1998年出现过一次。”

Last year was especially striking because global heat records were broken or tied in every month except January and April, researchers said.

研究人员表示，去年之所以特别引人瞩目，是因为除了1月和4月以外，每个月都会创下新的全球高温记录，或与记录持平。

“That’s the first time we’ve seen that,” said Thomas Karl, director of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s national centres for environmental information.

美国国家海洋与大气管理局(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)国家环境信息中心负责人托马斯愠尔(Thomas Karl)表示：“我们还是第一次看到这种情况。”

Man-made climate change is the main culprit for warming that was leading the world into “uncharted territory”, said Peter Stott, head of climate monitoring and attribution at the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre for climate research, which released separate findings confirming the US analysis.

英国气象办公室哈德莱中心(UK Met Office's Hadley Centre)气候监测与分析的负责人彼得斯托特(Peter Stott)表示，人为造成的气候变化是升温的罪魁祸首，导致世界进入“未知领域”。哈德莱中心发布的研究报告也印证了美国研究人员的分析结果。

The current El , a naturally recurring phenomenon that warms the Pacific Ocean, was probably only responsible for about 10 per cent of 2015’s record-breaking temperatures, he added.

斯托特说，对于2015年破纪录的气温来说，当前的厄尔尼诺现象可能只负有10%的责任。厄尔尼诺现象令太平洋海水变暖，是自然界一种经常性现象。

The bulk was due to underlying global warming caused largely by rising emissions of carbon dioxide, the main man-made greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil.

大部分原因还是全球变暖，而全球变暖主要是二氧化碳排放量上升造成的。二氧化碳是主要的人为温室气体，通过燃烧煤、石油等化石燃料产生。

Mr Karl added: “We would have likely had a record [year] even without El , but it pushed it way over the top.”

卡尔还表示：“就算没有厄尔尼诺现象，去年气温也有可能创纪录，但厄尔尼诺现象让高温更加极端。”

The scientists’ analysis comes only a month after nearly 200 governments struck a new climate agreement in Paris that aims to stop global temperatures from rising more than 2C from pre-industrial levels, and ideally limit warming to 1.5C.

就在一个月前，近200个国家的政府在巴黎达成了一项新的气候协议，目标是阻止全球气温比工业化前水平上升2摄氏度以上，最好限制在1.5摄氏度以内。

Temperatures had already risen by 0.8C since the industrial revolution and although last year’s 1C rise may not be repeated every year from now on, scientists said 2016 could turn out to be another exceptionally warm year as the El event continues.

自工业革命以来，全球气温已经上升了0.8摄氏度。虽然去年1摄氏度的升温不太可能在今后每年都出现，但科学家表示由于厄尔尼诺事件的持续，2016年可能又将是一个极端炎热的年份。

“If you were going to be betting, you would bet its going to be warmer than 2015,” said Mr Karl.

卡尔说：“如果要打赌的话，我赌今年比去年更热。”

This raises the risk of heavy rains and flooding, scientists pointed out, because warmer temperatures would lead to more water vapour in the world’s atmosphere.

科学家指出，这增加了暴雨和洪水的危险，因为气温升高会导致大气层里积聚更多水蒸气。

Last year saw a series of disastrous floods hit countries worldwide, including the UK, which in December experienced its wettest month since records began in 1910.

去年一系列洪灾袭击了世界各国，英国也包括在内。去年12月英国经历了1910年开始记录以来雨水最多的月份。

The findings of the US and UK scientists are based on thousands of global temperature measurements taken daily on land and at sea.

美国和英国科学家基于数千份陆地和海洋的每日全球气温监测数据，得出上述发现。