July breaks the record for air and ocean temperatures
Last July will go down in history as the hottest month on Earth since there are records, and more and more scientific data supports this conclusion.. The analysis of the measurements collected by the European Copernicus climate change service (C3S) also maintains that July 2023 broke the record for both air and ocean temperatures.
His report, published this Tuesday and based on data collected by satellites, ships, planes and meteorological stations around the world, also highlights the large number of heat waves suffered by many regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including southern Europe.. High temperatures have also been the tonic in several South American countries and in Antarctica, despite the fact that it is now winter there.
“These records have dire consequences for both people and the planet, exposed to increasingly frequent and intense extreme events,” warned Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), on the occasion of the presentation. of this report that comes just as Spain is facing its third heat wave this summer, which will be the most extreme we have suffered if the weather forecasts come true: after a brief heat lull last weekend, thermometers They will reach 45ºC and the AEMET has issued a special warning for high temperatures.
Regarding the global air (surface) temperature in July 2023, it is confirmed that July was the hottest among any other month, not only among the months of July. Specifically, it was 0.72°C warmer than average for July between 1991 and 2020. Therefore, it supersedes the previous record, registered in July 2019, by a difference of 0.33ºC.. Reading the long-term data also reveals that it was 1.5 ºC hotter than the average for July between 1850-1900, that is, at the beginning of the industrial era.
At the end of last week we learned that on August 1 the average ocean temperature had broken the record by reaching 20.96 ºC (the previous highest record was measured on March 29, 2016 and was very similar, 20.95 ºC). As detailed this Tuesday by the Copernicus report, the average temperature of the ocean has risen continuously since April 2023 until it reached record levels in July, with 0.51 ºC above the average for the period 1991-2020.
But that is the global average, the data in some oceans are particularly high and worrying. Thus, the North Atlantic had a temperature 1.05 ºC higher than the average for July.
Heat waves affected the entire Mediterranean but also the Caribbean and southern Greenland, while El Niño conditions continued to develop over the eastern Pacific.
The oceans regulate the world climate and absorb a large amount of CO2 from the atmosphere and produce a large part of the terrestrial oxygen, which is why they are warming at this rate that worries scientists. A warmer ocean is less able to absorb carbon dioxide, which means more CO2 remains in the atmosphere.
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As Samantha Burgess recalls, “2023 is already the third hottest year to date, with 0.43 ºC above average, and 1.5 degrees above the start of the industrial age. Even if it were temporary, it shows the urgency of ambitious efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main culprits behind these records,” he claims.
The influence of the El Niño phenomenon
Comparing the averages from January to July, the world average for 2023 is the third highest recorded, with a difference of 0.43 °C compared to the period 1991-2020. In 2016, the difference was 0.49 °C and in 2020, 0.48 °C. However, the analysis by the Copernicus scientists notes that the gap between 2023 and 2016 is expected to narrow in the coming months, as the latter part of 2016 was relatively cool, while the remainder of 2023 is expected to be relatively cold. warm as a consequence of the development of the El Niño phenomenon.
The data coming from Antarctica is also worrying, where the extent of the ice sheet was 15% lower than normal at this time of year, with the lowest frozen surface recorded in a month of July since they began to be made. observations. As for the extent of the Arctic ice sheet, it was slightly below the minimum and was highest along the northern Siberian coast.
The report also collects precipitation data. It rained more than average rain across most of northern Europe and a region from the Black Sea and Ukraine to northwestern Russia, while drier-than-average conditions were experienced across the entire Mediterranean basin, with Italy and southeastern Europe having the largest anomalies.
In other parts of the world such as northeastern North America, Afghanistan, Pakistan, northeastern China, northern and eastern Australia, and Chile, July 2023 was wetter than average, while at the other end it rained less. than usual in Mexico, the southwestern United States, central and southeast Asia, southwestern Australia, and parts of southern Brazil and Paraguay.