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The European Climate Organization has announced that sea surface temperatures have also reached new records, raising the risk of extreme weather events.
The world experienced its warmest March on record, marking the 10th consecutive month of record heat and sea surface temperatures reaching new highs, according to Europe’s climate watchdog.
The average temperature in March was 14.14 degrees Celsius (57.9 degrees Fahrenheit), beating the previous record set in 2016 by a tenth of a degree, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Agency (C3S) said on Tuesday. The month was also 1.68 degrees (35 degrees Celsius) warmer than the average March from 1850 to 1900, the pre-industrial reference period.
Vast areas of the globe, from parts of Africa to Greenland and South America to Antarctica, endured above-average temperatures during the month.
Not only did it break its own heat record for the 10th consecutive month, it was also the hottest 12-month period ever recorded, 1.58°C (34.8°F) above the pre-industrial average. there was.
According to C3S, the main cause of the heat is greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities.
C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess said: “The long-term trend of an exceptional record is very concerning.”
“When you look at records like this, you see that month after month, the climate is changing and changing rapidly,” she added.
Although the temperatures did not break the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit agreed by world leaders in Paris in 2015, “the reality is we are very close and already within the deadline,” Burgess said. he said.
Already, 2023 was the hottest year on Earth in world records dating back to 1850.
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that the world will likely exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius in the early 2030s. Goals are measured in decades rather than individual years.
Hotter seas, rougher weather
Sea surface temperatures in March also set a new world record, even as El Niño, a weather condition that warms the central Pacific Ocean and changes global weather patterns, has begun to weaken.
According to C3S, global sea surface temperatures averaged 21.07 degrees Celsius (69.93 degrees Celsius) for the month, the highest on record for the month and slightly above February’s record.
Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth and maintain a livable climate by absorbing 90 percent of excess heat from carbon dioxide and methane emissions produced by the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas. Masu.
“Until greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere stop rising, this trajectory will remain the same,” Jennifer Francis, a scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told The Associated Press. “That means we have to stop burning fossil fuels, stop deforestation and grow more food” as quickly and sustainably as possible. ”
When the ocean gets hotter, there is more moisture in the atmosphere, leading to an increase in abnormal weather events such as strong winds and heavy rain.
Russia is currently experiencing its worst flooding in decades, with parts of Australia, Brazil and France also hit by an unusually rainy March.
Warmer ocean temperatures also increase the risk of large-scale coral bleaching, with marine scientists saying last month that large-scale bleaching events were already underway in the Southern Hemisphere and could be the worst in Earth’s history. he warned.
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