2015 likely to be warmest on record, 2011-2015 warmest 5-year period: WMO

of the warmest years on record over land. South America is having its hottest year on record, as is Asia (similar to 2007), and Africa and Europe their second hottest.

According to preliminary figures as of the end of September 2015, 2011-15 was the world’s warmest five-year period on record, at about 0.57°C (1.01°F) above the average for the standard 1961-1990 reference period. It was the warmest five-year period on record for Asia, Europe, South America, and Oceania, and for North America. WMO compiled the five-year analysis because it provides a longer-term climate signal than the annual report.

The WMO says the 2015 climate highlights include:

El Niño
The full effect of the strong 2015 El Niño on global temperature is likely to continue after El Niño peaks. However, other impacts are already being felt. In early October, NOAA declared that record global ocean temperatures had led to a global coral bleaching event. This began in the North Pacific in the summer of 2014 and spread to the South Pacific and Indian Ocean in 2015.

Consistent with typical El Niño impacts, large areas of Central America and the Caribbean recorded below average rainfall. Brazil, which started the year in drought in southern and eastern areas, saw the focus of the drought shift north with scant rainfall during the dry season over the Amazon. India’s monsoon rainfall was 86 percent of normal. In Indonesia, the low rainfall has likely contributed to the increased incidence of wildfires. Peru was affected by heavy rain and flooding, as was Argentina.

Ocean heat and sea level rise
The oceans have been absorbing more than 90 percent of the energy that has accumulated in the climate system from human emissions of greenhouse gases, resulting in higher temperatures and sea levels. In the first nine months of 2015, global ocean heat content through both the upper 700 meters and 2,000 meters of the oceans reached record high levels. The latest estimates of global sea level indicate that the global average sea level in the first half of 2015 was the highest since satellite observations became available in 1993.

Significant warmth was recorded across large areas of the oceans. The Tropical Pacific was much warmer than average, exceeding 1°C over much of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, consistent with the signature of a strong El Niño. The northeast Pacific, much of the Indian Ocean and areas in the north and south Atlantic were significantly warmer