2014 to be hottest year on record, EU-funded research unveils

Climate change is very likely to have helped make 2014 Europe’s warmest year since the 1500s, scientists have found. A substantial part of the data, released yesterday by the United Nations, comes from the Climate Information Bulletin, a publication prepared by an EU-funded space research project managed by the REA, EURO4M.

The project has analysed historical records on weather patterns and some extreme phenomena, and provided new tools to predict and react to floods and draught - and plan, ultimately, for climate change.

Between 1950 and 2010, the average warming trend in Europe observed a 0.18 ˚C rise per decade, with the warmest years clustered at the end of the timescale studied, concluded the EURO4M team.

Current estimates forecast the 2014 annual mean temperature for Europe to be 0.3°C above the previous record set in 2007. The top 10 warmest years are all from the year 2000 onwards, with 1989 being the only exception, at sixth place.

Follow-up research is now in the hands of the UERRA team. The project is also managed by the REA.

Associated media coverage: Financial Times - The Guardian