Ejercicio B2 · Inglés PAU Valencia Ordinaria 2024

Part I. Reading Comprehension

TEXT B/TEXTO B

ON OUR WAY TO A NEW RECORD GLOBAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE?

With 2023 the warmest year on record, 2024 could see the unwelcome milestone of 1.5° of warming reached for a full year. The year 2023 has been confirmed as the warmest in recorded history, with average global temperatures topping 1.5° of heating above preindustrial levels for more than one third of the year. It continues the rapid warming trend, with the 10 warmest years in human history all having occurred since 2010.

So, what could 2024 hold? Forecasts suggest the year ahead is likely to be another record breaker, with a strong possibility that this could be the first full year to go beyond 1.5° of warming. The ongoing El Niño event, which brings warmer waters to the tropical Pacific Ocean, is helping to push global temperatures up, but UK Met Office scientists say the main driver of the record-breaking temperatures is human-induced warming. Their global outlook for 2024 suggests we will end the next year with average global temperatures somewhere between 1.34° and 1.58° above preindustrial levels.

Overshooting 1.5° would be an unwelcome milestone but it would not mean we have breached the Paris agreement. Curiously, the 2015 climate accord did not define how we would recognize that the 1.5° target had been surpassed, but it is widely accepted to mean a longer-term average over 20 years or so. Rather than waiting decades for data to roll in, recent research published in Nature suggests using a blend of observations and model projections to test when 1.5° has been passed.

Adapted from an article by Kate Ravilious, The Guardian, 4-1-2024.

B2. Are the following statements true (T) or false (F)? Identify the part of the text that supports your answer by copying the exact passage on the answer sheet. (1.5 points: 0.5 each)

a.

For more than half of 2023, the global average temperature of 1.5° has been passed.

True

False

b.

Forecasts show that, during one third of 2024, global average temperatures will not exceed 1.5° compared to the preindustrial era.

True

False

c.

Some studies propose that it is necessary to compare data from several sources to confirm when the 1.5° target has been exceeded.

True

False