Ireland becoming Tropical Isle Getting Hotter, Wetter
Pastor Dale Morgan
Ireland becoming Tropical Isle Getting Hotter, Wetter*
Wednesday August 29, 2007 10:46 PM
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Associated Press Writer
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Ireland's average temperature has been rising at
twice the global rate since the early 1980s and parts of the country are
becoming wetter and more prone to flooding due to climate change, a
government-funded report said Wednesday.
The report found that Ireland's average temperature has been rising at
the rate of 0.76 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since 1980. It said six
of Ireland's 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1990, and
forecast that heatwaves would increase in severity, frequency and length.
The study, compiled by National University of Ireland climatologists for
the Environmental Protection Agency, also found that rainfall was
increasing in both volume and intensity along Ireland's Atlantic
coastline, but was relatively unchanged in the more heavily populated east.
A co-author of the report, John Sweeney, said Ireland's temperatures
began rising in the early 1980s, unlike the global norm, which
experienced rises from the mid-1970s. The fact that Ireland is
surrounded by water may have been a reason for the delay, he said.
Since then, however, Ireland has been ``making up for lost time ... and
warming at roughly twice the rate of the global average,'' Sweeney said.
The country's minimum daily temperatures have been rising more quickly
than maximum afternoon temperatures, in part because of increased cloud
cover at night from moister air, he said.
A series of EPA-sanctioned studies have forecast that Ireland will face
water-supply shortfalls within the coming two decades, particularly in
Dublin, home to a third of the country's 4.2 million people, and
Ireland's sunniest corner in the southeast. Dublin has only a single
source of drinking water that is currently running to within 1 percent
of capacity.
``We're putting the people where we have the least water availability,
and also where climate change will further squeeze them in terms of less
rainfall in the future,'' Sweeney said.
Dublin City Council planners have already rejected the idea of diverting
water from Ireland's largest river, the Shannon in the west - a proposal
with unknown ecological implications.
Meanwhile, the Atlantic-exposed west will be increasingly prone to
floods and soil erosion due to heavy rains, the EPA said.
Ireland, a car-dependent society with a rapidly expanding economy, has
been unable to cut its production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
gas emissions, a leading cause of global warming. Under its commitments
to the Kyoto treaty, Ireland is supposed to reduce its greenhouse gas
emissions to 60 million tons annually by next year, but currently emits
close to 70 million tons.
To achieve an artificial cut, the government has set aside $370 million
to buy carbon credits from foreign companies and other countries that
are emitting less than their Kyoto-specified limits. But the actual
level of pollution in Ireland is expected to keep rising.
Mary Kelly, EPA director general, said that even with a cutback in
emissions, the country will likely still be affected by higher average
temperatures, declining frosty periods and heavier rainfalls in coming
years because of the level of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.
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On the Net:
EPA report on climate change in Ireland:
http://www.epa.ie/downloads/pubs/research/climate/name,23305,en.html