EU scientists have stated that this year is highly likely to be the warmest in the last 125,000 years. The latest data shows that last month set a new record for the hottest October ever, surpassing the 2019 record by 0.4 degrees Celsius.
Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Union, has described this temperature anomaly as "extremely extreme." The reasons for the warmth include ongoing greenhouse gas emissions and the presence of the El Niño weather pattern this year, which has led to warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Globally, the average surface temperature in October was 1.7 degrees Celsius higher than the same month in the pre-industrial era, defined by Copernicus as 1850-1900. This record indicates that 2023 is almost certain to become the warmest year on record, surpassing the previous record in 2016, which was also an El Niño year.
Burgess noted that Copernicus' data goes back to 1940 but can be traced back to 125,000 years when combined with long-term data from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This significant increase in temperature was first broken in September 2023, which was quite alarming.
Climate scientist Michael Mann noted that most El Niño years tend to be record-breakers because the additional warming from global warming accentuates the warming trend.
Climate change is leading to increasingly destructive extreme weather events, including devastating floods that caused thousands of deaths in Libya, severe heatwaves in South America, and Canada's worst wildfire season in history.
Piers Forster, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds, emphasized that we cannot let the destructive floods, wildfires, storms, and heatwaves that occurred this year become the new normal. Urgent action is needed to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade to slow down the rate of warming.
Despite countries setting more ambitious emission reduction targets, they have not been met so far, and in 2022, global carbon dioxide emissions reached a historical high.
Due to the accumulated warming over the past few months, 2023 is almost certain to become the hottest year on record, according to Copernicus.
Scientists monitor climate variables to understand how the Earth is changing due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. A warmer Earth means more extreme and intense weather events, such as severe droughts or hurricanes carrying more water.
Peter Schlosser, Vice President of the Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University, said this is a clear sign that we are entering a climate period that will have a greater impact on more people. He noted that it is imperative to take action now to stop emitting greenhouse gases.
Historically, oceans have absorbed up to 90% of the excess heat caused by climate change, but Burgess stated that they are losing resistance to global warming this year due to ocean warming. Furthermore, more warming is expected to occur over the next few months during the El Niño cycle, a short-term natural climate pattern that causes some ocean areas to warm and triggers global climate change.
Schlosser stated that this means the world should expect more record-breaking temperatures due to this warming, but the question is whether the future will progress at a slower pace. He added that the Earth has already exceeded the 1.5-degree Celsius warming limit set by the Paris Agreement and has not yet fully witnessed all the impacts of this warming. Now, scientists are emphasizing the urgency of taking action to halt greenhouse gas emissions.
Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Union, has described this temperature anomaly as "extremely extreme." The reasons for the warmth include ongoing greenhouse gas emissions and the presence of the El Niño weather pattern this year, which has led to warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Globally, the average surface temperature in October was 1.7 degrees Celsius higher than the same month in the pre-industrial era, defined by Copernicus as 1850-1900. This record indicates that 2023 is almost certain to become the warmest year on record, surpassing the previous record in 2016, which was also an El Niño year.
Burgess noted that Copernicus' data goes back to 1940 but can be traced back to 125,000 years when combined with long-term data from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This significant increase in temperature was first broken in September 2023, which was quite alarming.
Climate scientist Michael Mann noted that most El Niño years tend to be record-breakers because the additional warming from global warming accentuates the warming trend.
Climate change is leading to increasingly destructive extreme weather events, including devastating floods that caused thousands of deaths in Libya, severe heatwaves in South America, and Canada's worst wildfire season in history.
Piers Forster, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds, emphasized that we cannot let the destructive floods, wildfires, storms, and heatwaves that occurred this year become the new normal. Urgent action is needed to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade to slow down the rate of warming.
Despite countries setting more ambitious emission reduction targets, they have not been met so far, and in 2022, global carbon dioxide emissions reached a historical high.
Due to the accumulated warming over the past few months, 2023 is almost certain to become the hottest year on record, according to Copernicus.
Scientists monitor climate variables to understand how the Earth is changing due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. A warmer Earth means more extreme and intense weather events, such as severe droughts or hurricanes carrying more water.
Peter Schlosser, Vice President of the Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University, said this is a clear sign that we are entering a climate period that will have a greater impact on more people. He noted that it is imperative to take action now to stop emitting greenhouse gases.
Historically, oceans have absorbed up to 90% of the excess heat caused by climate change, but Burgess stated that they are losing resistance to global warming this year due to ocean warming. Furthermore, more warming is expected to occur over the next few months during the El Niño cycle, a short-term natural climate pattern that causes some ocean areas to warm and triggers global climate change.
Schlosser stated that this means the world should expect more record-breaking temperatures due to this warming, but the question is whether the future will progress at a slower pace. He added that the Earth has already exceeded the 1.5-degree Celsius warming limit set by the Paris Agreement and has not yet fully witnessed all the impacts of this warming. Now, scientists are emphasizing the urgency of taking action to halt greenhouse gas emissions.
