Global Temperatures Are Warming Nights Faster Than Days

Negative climate changes are having a profound effect on the way the world reacts to anthropogenic climatic influences. The Arctic is heating up faster than other parts of the world and trapped heat is starting to wield another problematic scenario.

Another area seeing little coverage are the temperature differences between night and day as a consequence of the impacts of climate breakdown.

A team at the University of Exeter has studied this field with some shocking results. They found that nights are heating up faster than days and might prove disastrous for organismal activity.

After looking at records from 1983-2017 they found that nighttime temperatures are increasing in some places as much as >0.25c.

In the study, the authors say: “Over half of the global land area has experienced diurnal asymmetry in warming of >0.25°C, and the direction and magnitude of this asymmetry will have profound consequences for the species inhabiting those regions and their ability to adapt in the face of the changing climate.”

This could effect change primarily on both microecology and invertebrate populations in the immediate future. Already invertebrate populations have seen a dramatic decline in numbers.

Pollinators including Bees have been afflicted by colony collapse, which has been linked to pesticide use. Temperatures can also cause changes in behaviour, which we have now seen in flowers and fruit.

“Overall, we found that more land has experienced greater night‐time warming than has experienced greater daytime warming and that this has been accompanied by increased cloud cover, specific humidity and precipitation”

Photograph: mypubliclands