PARIS
\n2023 is likely to be the hottest year in human history, and global temperatures during the Northern Hemisphere summer were the warmest on record, the EU climate monitor said on Wednesday.
\nHeatwaves, droughts and wildfires struck Asia, Africa, Europe and North America over the last three months, with dramatic impact on economies, ecosystems and human health.
\nThe average global temperature in June, July and August was 16.77 degrees Celsius (62.19 degrees Fahrenheit), smashing the previous 2019 record of 16.48C, the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a report.
\n\u201cThe three months that we\u2019ve just had are the warmest in approximately 120,000 years, so effectively human history,\u201d C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess told AFP.
\nLast month was the hottest August on record and warmer than all other months except July 2023.
\nClimate breakdown has begun,\u201d said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
\n\u201cScientists have long warned what our fossil fuel addiction will unleash,\u201d he added. \u201cOur climate is imploding faster than we can cope, with extreme weather events hitting every corner of the planet.\u201d
\nRecord-high global sea surface temperatures played a major role in stoking heat throughout the summer, with marine heatwaves hitting the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.
\n\u201cLooking at the additional heat we have in the surface ocean, the probability is that 2023 will end up being the warmest year on record,\u201d Burgess said.
\nThe average global temperature through the first eight months of 2023 is the second-warmest on record, only 0.01C below the benchmark 2016 level, the report added.
\nIf the Northern Hemisphere has a \u201cnormal\u201d winter, \u201cwe can almost virtually say that 2023 will be the warmest year that humanity has experienced,\u201d Burgess said.
\nOceans have absorbed 90 percent of the excess heat produced by human activity since the dawn of the industrial age, according to scientists.
\nThis excess heat continues to accumulate as greenhouse gases \u2014 mainly from burning oil, gas and coal \u2014 build up in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.
\nExcluding the polar regions, global average sea surface temperatures exceeded the previous March 2016 record every day this summer from July 31 to August 31.
\nThe average ocean temperature has been topping seasonal heat records on a regular basis since April.
\nWarmer oceans are also less capable of absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2), exacerbating the vicious cycle of global warming as well as disrupting fragile ecosystems.
\nAntarctic sea ice remained at a record low for the time of year with a monthly value 12 percent below average, \u201cby far the largest negative anomaly for August since satellite observations began\u201d in the 1970s, C3S said.
\nHigher temperatures are likely to come: the El Nino weather phenomenon \u2014 which warms waters in the southern Pacific and beyond \u2014 has only just begun.
\nScientists expect the worst effects of the current El Nino to be felt at the end of 2023 and into next year.
\nAt the 2015 Paris climate summit, countries agreed to keep global temperature increases to \u201cwell below\u201d 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an aspirational target of 1.5C.
\nA report by UN experts due this week will assess the world\u2019s progress in meeting the goal and will inform leaders ahead of a high-stakes climate summit in Dubai starting on November 30.
\nThe so-called \u201cGlobal Stocktake\u201d is expected to show that countries are well behind meeting their commitments.
\n\u201cSurging temperatures demand a surge in action. Leaders must turn up the heat now for climate solutions,\u201d said Guterres.
\nThe C3S findings came from computer-generated analyzes using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.
\nProxy data such as tree rings and ice cores allow scientists to compare modern temperatures with figures before records began in the mid-19th century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS 2023 is likely to be the hottest year in human history, and global temperatures during the Northern Hemisphere summer were the warmest on record, the EU climate monitor said on Wednesday. Heatwaves, droughts and wildfires struck Asia, Africa, Europe and North America over the last three months, with dramatic impact on economies, ecosystems and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-354299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n