On Monday and Tuesday, the Earth experienced its warmest days since records began, with average global temperatures reaching 17.01 and 17.18 degrees Celsius. The data is from the US National Centers for Environmental Forecasting (NCEP). Although the records only go back to 1979, there is no evidence of even higher temperatures in previous records, according to Robert Rohde, chief scientist at Berkeley Earth. This suggests that the Earth has likely not been as warm as this in a long time, indicating that global warming is leading us into uncharted territory.
Visualizations of the data from the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute reveal that temperatures are unusually high, particularly in North America, Siberia, North Africa, and Antarctica. The anomaly is particularly pronounced in the southern hemisphere. A timeline of average temperatures shows that until May, they were in line with previous record values for the same time of year. However, since June, temperatures have been consistently rising, and the values on Monday and Tuesday were well above the previous absolute records, which were only reached towards the end of July.
Climate researchers warn that these record-breaking temperatures are not a cause for celebration but rather have dire consequences for people and ecosystems. Friederike Otto, a climate researcher, describes it as a “death penalty.” US climate researcher Zeke Hausfather predicts that Monday’s high is just the first in a series of records expected this year due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions and the El Niño climate phenomenon. Tuesday’s temperature, which was 0.98 degrees Celsius above the long-term average and 0.26 degrees Celsius above the previous record, supports this prediction.
The high sea surface temperatures (SST) since mid-March may be partially attributed to El Niño, which typically leads to elevated temperatures. However, the impact of global warming cannot be disregarded. It is possible that the world’s oceans are heating up due to factors such as clean ship exhaust, lack of desert winds, and the long-term effects of the Tonga volcanic eruption. These record-breaking temperatures are a clear indication of the consequences of global warming.
