变暖的地球

We are all aware of climate change and how it is threatening our planet. Industrialisation, our disposable culture and population growth are some of the reasons why we are seeing average temperatures rise and more extreme weather events. And scientists are finding more evidence that the situation is getting worse.

The rise in global temperatures is the most important thing that experts analyse. They say keeping it below 1.5 centigrade will avoid the worst climate impacts. But The World Meteorological Organisation says there's a 20% possibility the critical mark will be broken in any one year before 2024 – and there's a 70% chance it will be broken in one or more months in those five years.

This isn't great news for the Arctic, where the impact will be greatest: warming by twice the global average this year. Temperatures in the Siberian Arctic reached record averages in June – one area reached more than 30C. This heat helped to fan wildfires, which in turn released 59 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, experts predict over the next five years rising sea levels will cause more storms.

But these events should not surprise us. Professor Martin Siegert from Imperial College London told the BBC this is "in line with predictions of global warming going back decades now. We don't really need further confirmation of this problem, but here it is anyway." He thinks if you change the weather in the Arctic you are likely to see the effects ripple out around the world.

We know that carbon emissions from human activities is partly to blame for our warming planet, but it seems measures to reduce this are not having much effect. The BBC's Justin Rowlatt writing about the effects of events in the Arctic, says: "Climate scientists simply don't know for certain what those effects are likely to be, but climate models suggest they will lead to more extreme weather events – heatwaves and severe storms."