It seems like old news, but it’s actually a fact very recent and alarming: the last twelve months have been the warmest on record, with temperatures reaching a monthly record compared to the previous year.
This is established by a report from the NASA, which reiterates like this consecutive streak Of record is something that has never happened before, and that you can easily verify from graph below (by the way, check out our selection of the best apps for checking air quality and pollution).
According to the administrator of the NASA Bill Nelson is clear that we are facing a climate crisis. The average global temperature in the last 12 months was 1.30°C above the 20th century baseline (1951 to 1980). This is slightly above the 1.5°C level compared to the late 19th century average.
The run of record temperatures is part of a long-term warming trend that has become evident over the past four decades, with the latest 10 consecutive years who were the 10 hottest from when recording began to the end of nineteenth century.
Before this streak of 12 consecutive months of record temperatures, the second longest streak lasted seven months between 2015 and 2016.
Nelson reiterated that communities around the world are undergoing a extreme heat in unprecedented numbers.
Not only that, but second Gavin Schmidt, director of the GISS, could set another global temperature record this year. Right now, it’s on track to be close to 2023.
The data, published by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, was collected from tens of thousands of weather stations on the ground, as well as thousands of instruments on ships And buoys on the ocean surface.
Second Kate CalvinNASA’s chief scientist and senior climate advisor, we are experiencing more warm days, more warm months, more warm years, and the reason is clear: these temperature increases are driven by our greenhouse gas emissions and they are impacting people and ecosystems around the world.
Recorded temperature data is affected by phenomena such as El Niño And La Ninaand give it oceans.
El Niño And La Nina They alternately warm and cool the tropical Pacific Ocean, contributing a small amount of variability in global temperatures from year to year.
For example, in the spring of 2023 El Niño helped fuel last year’s extreme summer and fall heat, while this year is expected to La Nina could have an opposite effect, lowering average global temperatures this year.
Factors like volcanic eruptions and sun-blocking aerosol emissions can also influence our climate in any given year, and that’s not forgetting the oceans.
Since our planet is covered for more than two thirds by water, these absorb 90% of excess atmospheric heat, and their surface temperatures also influence temperatures on land.
And I’m not Good newsalso because water cools more slowly and accumulates heat.
Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, ocean temperatures for the January-April period were 1.18°C above average, according to NOAA, both superficial and deep, and this despite El Niño is waning.
This is also a problem for hurricanes and typhoons, and hopefully La Nina reduce the phenomenon by weakening westerly winds high in the atmosphere near the Americas, over the Caribbean Sea and the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
Another alarming fact is the rise of the seas. According to NASA, the global average sea level has risen by 0.76 centimeters in a single year between 2022 and 2023. According to experts, it is a leap remarkableand is attributed to the warm climate and the development of El Nino.
The latest data from the mission Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, launched in November 2020, show an increase of approximately 9.4 centimeters since 1993.
This increase has accelerated from 0.18 centimeters per year in 1993 to 0.42 centimeters per year currently.
Here too, the alternation between El Nino and La Nina should help, and La Nina, cooling Pacific waters, is expected to reduce sea levels by moving rain from the ocean to land. These fluctuations are temporary but still superimposed on a long-term trend of rising sea levels due to global warming.
