TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Global warming has pushed the rainy season to come earlier in Indonesia this year. Almost 50 percent of the country’s total 342 seasonal zones (ZOM) will experience the wet season starting between September-October.

The statement was conveyed by Dwikorita Karnawati, the Head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), in a press conference on the rainy season forecast in 2021/2022 on Thursday, August 26.

“Early rainy season is also due to warmer sea surface temperatures,” said Dwikorita, adding that her agency recorded evidence and data showing that global heating is really happening.

According to the BMKG data, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide CO2 in the archipelago reached 415 parts per million (ppm), higher than the global average at 410 ppm.

The average air temperature on Indonesia's major islands was predicted to rise by three degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century (2100) if no preventive efforts are carried out. At present, the air temperature has increased by one degree compared to that before the 1900 industrial revolution.

“An increase of about one degree has made the climate chaotic,” said Dwikorita.

She cited an example of the rising frequency of tropical storm formation triggered by rising sea surface temperatures. She added the current’s sea surface temperature had reached 29 degrees Celsius from normally 26 degrees.

“It is Seroja (Tropical Cyclone Seroja that caused extreme rainfall in East Nusa Tenggara in early April). This is an example of the impact of global warming,” Dwikorita underlined.

Read: BMKG Atributes Cyclone Seroja to Global Warming

ZACHARIAS WURAGIL