Temperatures Rise in Korea: Twice as much as the global rise of last century

It has been revealed that over the last hundred years, temperatures in Korea have risen twice as fast as the global average. The temperature increase throughout Northeastern Asia, which includes the Korean Peninsula, was found to be far higher than of the rest of the world.

Following the fourth report presented by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on February 2, that showed a vast acceleration in global warming, Lee Man-gi, president of the Korea Meteorological Administration, announced on February 8 the analysis of the recent climate changes in Korea caused by the global warming and introduced measures to combat these changes.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the average temperature measured at six observation areas nationwide, between 1912 and 1920, was 12 °C, while that between 1991 and 2000 rose by 1.5 degrees to 13.5 °C. Compared to the IPCC findings that the world temperature rose by 0.74 °C on average over the last hundred years, temperatures rose twice as fast in Korea than in the rest of the world.

Research by the Meteorological Research Institute revealed that in the climate of the Korean Peninsula, winter has been shortened by one month compared to 80 years ago, showing definite signs of global warming.

“Even this year the average temperature nationwide is anticipated to be 12.4 °C – a 0.5 °C rise from the average (the average of 1971-2000),” according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. “It is possible that this summer will be hotter than that of 1998, which was recorded as the hottest season in Korean history.”

Natural disaster expenses caused by such extreme climate change are skyrocketing.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the amount of damage caused by natural disasters around the world over the last decade (1996-2005) jumped by 557%, compared to the 1960s, while the amount of damage from natural disasters in Korea in the same period soared by 1,603%, from 1.067 trillion won to 18.1814 trillion won; a rate three times the global average.

KMA Administrator Lee stated, “We will establish a multilevel observation system and improve the observation capacity concerning concentrated heavy rains, in preparation against climate changes caused by global warming, while simultaneously promoting the composition of a standard scenario on national climate changes.”

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