Our Country's Surface Temperature Rises 1.8 Degrees Over 100 Years... Faster Than Global Average

Joint Publication of the Korea Meteorological Administration and Ministry of Environment: "Korea Climate Change Assessment Report"

On May 24 last year, when an early heatwave was raging across the country, a rally urging action to address climate change was held in front of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul, hosted by Youth Climate Action. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] It has been revealed that the surface temperature in South Korea has risen by approximately 1.8 degrees over the past 100 years. This increase is about twice as steep compared to the global average surface temperature rise of 0.85 degrees (from 1880 to 2012).

The Korea Meteorological Administration and the Ministry of Environment jointly announced on the 28th that they have published the "Korea Climate Change Assessment Report 2020," which summarizes scientific evidence, impacts, and adaptation research results related to climate change in South Korea.

This report is the third edition following those published in 2010 and 2014. From 2014 to this year, it analyzed and evaluated research findings from over 1,900 domestic and international papers and various reports.

The report uses Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) to project scenarios. RCP represents the time-dependent concentration pathways of greenhouse gases, expressed as the additional amount of energy absorbed by the Earth due to greenhouse gases by 2100, out of the energy received from the sun. The RCPs are categorized as 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5, with higher values indicating higher carbon dioxide concentrations.

Recently, the climate variability on the Korean Peninsula has been directly influenced by global warming and long-term climate variability. From 1912 to 2017, the annual average precipitation generally increased. Summer precipitation increased significantly, but changes in autumn, spring, and winter were not clearly evident.

Furthermore, if greenhouse gas emissions continue according to the current trend (RCP 8.5), the blooming period of cherry blossoms is predicted to advance by 11.2 days by 2090, and pine forests are expected to decrease by 15% in the 2080s compared to the present. By the end of the 21st century, rice production in South Korea is projected to decrease by more than 25%, apple cultivation areas will disappear, and citrus cultivation will become possible in the Gangwon-do region. Scenario analysis forecasts a temperature rise of 2.9 degrees under RCP 4.5 and 4.7 degrees under RCP 8.5 by the end of the 21st century.

The number of heatwave days is expected to increase from 10.1 days annually to 35.5 days in the latter half of the 21st century, and with rising temperatures, vector-borne diseases and waterborne infectious diseases are also projected to increase.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.