Climate Change: Warming Seen in Australia in 1940s, Research Says

Global warming first appeared in the 1940s in parts of Australia, Southeast Asia and Africa, say researchers from Australia's ARC Center of Excellence for Climate System Science and the U.K.'s University of Reading, who recently published findings from a study in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

In their report, the team also talked about where climate impacts will likely intensify in coming years. They studied both average and extreme temperatures, and saw the first changes in the tropics because those areas have a very narrow range of temperatures. Therefore, any shifts were more visible, according to a release.

First, they say, average temperatures changed in the tropics. Nearer the north and south poles, changes in the temperature record emerged later but were evident by the period between 1980 and 2000, the release said.

The continental United States showed fewer of these signs, especially the East Coast and the Midwest/central states. While these areas are not yet manifesting truly clear warming signals, according to the researchers, this will likely happen in the next decade, according to a statement.

While temperature changes were clear in many areas of the world, changes in rain are not yet pronounced. While there is an increase in extreme rainfall, it is not yet enough to be considered outside of the natural variation, the statement said.

"We expect the first heavy precipitation events with a clear global warming signal will appear during winters in Russia, Canada and northern Europe over the next 10-30 years," said Dr. Ed Hawkins from the National Center for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading, who was co-author of the report, the statement noted. "This is likely to bring pronounced precipitation events on top of the already existing trend towards increasingly wet winters in these regions."

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