It has become common to focus on the fastest warming places, regions where human-induced climate change is causing temperatures to rise at an alarming rate. In the Arctic, where sea ice is rapidly disappearing, warming could occur more than four times faster than anywhere else on the planet. The World Meteorological Organization recently said that Europe, where extreme summer heat has killed thousands in recent years, is the fastest warming continent.
On the other side of global warming hotspots: parts of the planet that are warming more slowly than others, often much slower than the global average of around 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-20th century, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the nonprofit Berkeley Earth.
But rather than offering lessons in how to limit rising temperatures, these relatively cool places offer another example of how humanity has damaged the planet.
Here are a few, and the influences behind them:
Depleted ozone layer slows Antarctic warming
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Ozone layer thickness
October 2022
The scale for the thickness of the ozone layer ranges from 0 to 500 Dobson units. Scientists use the word “hole” to describe areas where ozone concentrations are below 220 Dobson units. Source: NASA Earth Observations
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Ozone layer thickness
October 2022
The scale for the thickness of the ozone layer ranges from 0 to 500 Dobson units. Scientists use the word “hole” to describe areas where ozone concentrations are below 220 Dobson units. Source: NASA Earth Observations
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Ozone layer thickness
October 2022
The scale for the thickness of the ozone layer ranges from 0 to 500 Dobson units. Scientists use the word “hole” to describe areas where ozone concentrations are below 220 Dobson units. Source: NASA Earth Observations
Ozone layer thickness
October 2022
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
The scale for the thickness of the ozone layer ranges from 0 to 500 Dobson units. Scientists use the word “hole” to describe areas where ozone concentrations are below 220 Dobson units. Source: NASA Earth Observations
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Ozone layer thickness
October 2022
The scale for the thickness of the ozone layer ranges from 0 to 500 Dobson units. Scientists use the word “hole” to describe areas where ozone concentrations are below 220 Dobson units.
Source: NASA Earth Observations
While West Antarctica is one of the fastest warming places on Earth, the eastern part of the planet’s coldest continent has warmed much more slowly.
One reason, scientists say, is the ozone “hole,” a thinning of the atmospheric layer that acts as a shield against the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. Although efforts to reduce the use of ozone-depleting chemicals have helped reduce the hole, it is expected to persist for decades.
The theory is that the hole in the ozone layer is altering the circulation of high-level winds that drive weather in a way that makes it harder for cold polar air to escape, said senior scientist Robert Rohde. for Berkeley Earth.
Parts of East Antarctica have even cooled slightly compared to temperatures from 1951 to 1980.
Another factor that explains why Earth’s south pole is warming much more slowly than its north pole: the mountainous terrain of Antarctica, said Zeke Hausfather, head of climate research at financial firm Stripe and contributor to Berkeley Earth. The continent’s average elevation of over 7,000 feet above sea level means more consistent snow and ice cover, which means high albedo – an ability to reflect much of the sun’s rays and prevent the continent from absorbing so much solar radiation.
If Antarctica were as flat as the Arctic, according to one study, it would warm up much faster.
A melting ice flow is influencing the waters near Greenland
Ice thickness change
April 2002 – April 2022
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
The change in ice thickness is only shown for Greenland and is measured in meters of water equivalent. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Ice thickness change
April 2002 – April 2022
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
The change in ice thickness is only shown for Greenland and is measured in meters of water equivalent.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Ice thickness change
April 2002 – April 2022
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
The change in ice thickness is only shown for Greenland and is measured in meters of water equivalent. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Ice thickness change
April 2002 – April 2022
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
The change in ice thickness is only shown for Greenland and is measured in meters of water equivalent. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Ice thickness change
April 2002 – April 2022
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
The change in thickness is given in meters of water equivalent. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Some of the planet’s fastest warming is occurring in its most icy regions, including the Arctic. But as a byproduct, melting ice means that some nearby waters are warming more slowly, or even cooling.
The effect is apparent in a small part of the North Atlantic, just south of Greenland, where waters have cooled slightly and are also becoming so low in salinity that scientists fear a major ocean current is weakening. Greenland’s ice losses are so massive that they cannot be stopped, according to recent research.
An onslaught of cold water from collapsing ice sheets has also been linked to cooling sections of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. The relatively cool place near Greenland is isolated; Antarctica and much of the planet’s south are generally warming more slowly than northern regions, said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
“Oceans generally warm more slowly than land, and the southern hemisphere has more ocean than the north,” Schmidt said in an email.
Intense air pollution protects India from faster warming
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Fine particle pollution (PM 2.5) in 2019
Micrograms per cubic meter
Source: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Fine particle pollution (PM 2.5) in 2019
Micrograms per cubic meter
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Source: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Fine particle pollution (PM 2.5) in 2019
Micrograms per cubic meter
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Source: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Fine particle pollution (PM 2.5) in 2019
Micrograms per cubic meter
Source: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Fine particle pollution (PM 2.5) in 2019
Micrograms per cubic meter
Temperature change between
2017-2021 and 1951-1980
Source: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Among populated regions, India is one of the slowest to warm up, in part due to another byproduct of greenhouse gas emissions: air pollution.
Aerosols, or fine airborne particles, generally have a cooling effect because they block and scatter sunlight and can stimulate cloud formation, Hausfather said.
And pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, released when burning sulfur-containing fuels such as coal, oil or diesel, can be particularly effective in cooling localized areas. Unlike, say, carbon dioxide, it does not spread far from where it is emitted, he said.
While European countries and the United States imposed regulations decades ago that drastically reduced air pollution, India continues to experience one of the worst urban smogs in the world, reaching levels “ severe” last month.
That’s not to say India can escape extreme heat, with its tropical humidity contributing to oppressive and dangerous conditions. But parts of the country have seen less than half a degree Celsius increase in temperature from its average temperatures from 1951 to 1980, less than half the global average.
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