According to the European Union’s climate observatory, the hottest month to ever have been recorded on earth was July. The observatory confirmed the news on Tuesday.
July witnessed continuous heatwaves and fires worldwide and its temperature remained 0.33 degrees Celsius higher than July 2019, that had set the previous record of average temperature being 16.63C (32 Fahrenheit), said the climate observatory. “The month was 0.72C warmer than the 1991-2020 average for July,” it said.
Global warming has increased to 1.2 degrees Celsius since the late 1800s and this has been due to burning of fossil fuel at a higher rate. The higher temperature has intensified heatwaves, and has made them much longer and more frequent along with resulting in severe weather calamities like storms and floods.
The climate observatory Copernicus said, “Heatwaves were experienced in multiple regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including southern Europe. Well-above average temperatures occurred over several South American countries and around much of Antarctica. The global mean for 2023 is the third highest on record, at 0.43C relative to 1991-2020, compared with 0.49C for 2016 and 0.48C for 2020. The gap between 2023 and 2016 is expected to narrow in the coming months, as the latter months of 2016 were relatively cool… while the remainder of 2023 is expected to be relatively warm as the current El Nino event develops.”
A new record may have been set in July, according to scientists.
Concerns regarding potential repercussions on the climate of the planet, marine life, and coastal towns have been raised as a result of the world’s oceans breaking a record for temperature.
According to data from the European Union’s climate observatory, the temperature of the ocean’s surface increased to 20.96 degrees Celsius (69.7 degrees Fahrenheit) on July 30.
According to a Copernicus Climate Change Service official who talked to Agence France Presse (AFP) earlier, the previous record was 20.95C in March 2016. Polar regions were not included in the test samples.
Deputy Director of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service Samantha Burgess said, “We just witnessed global air temperatures and global ocean surface temperatures set new all-time records in July. These records have dire consequences for both people and the planet exposed to ever more frequent and intense extreme events. 2023 is currently the third warmest year to date at 0.43C above the recent average, with the average global temperature in July at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.”
“Even if this is only temporary, it shows the urgency for ambitious efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main driver behind these records,” she added.
While southern Europe, sections of North Africa, the southern United States, and some areas of China have been suffering from a brutal heatwave, forest fires have scorched large portions of Greece and burned 30 million acres (12 million hectares) in Canada.
The recent deadly downpours in Beijing, the capital of China, were the strongest since records have been kept, which dates back 140 years.
Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo had previously called the temperatures during that time “remarkable.”
In addition to these official records, he claimed that proxy data for the climate dating further back, such as tree rings or ice cores, indicates that the temperatures recorded during the period may have been “unprecedented in our history in the last few thousand years.”
