This year may become the "hottest year in human history", with three consecutive months of high temperatures
According to data released by the World Meteorological Organization and the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union's climate monitoring agency, June, July, and August each set new records for the same period globally, making this summer the hottest on record. Given the high global sea surface temperatures and the El Ni ñ o phenomenon, this year is likely to become the hottest year in human history.
According to a report released by the Copernican Climate Change Service, the global average temperature from June to August this year was 16.77 degrees Celsius, breaking the record of 16.48 degrees Celsius for the same period in 2019 and 0.66 degrees Celsius higher than the average level for the same period in previous years.
The measurement data used in the report comes from satellites, ships, aircraft, and meteorological stations around the world.
Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernican Climate Change Service, said, "We have just experienced about 120000 years, which is actually the hottest three months in human history."
According to data from the World Meteorological Organization, the global average temperature in July and August this year was the hottest and second hottest month on record since 1940, respectively. The global average temperature in August this year was about 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the pre industrial average from 1850 to 1900.
According to the Associated Press, scientists have used indirect data such as tree rings and ice cores to speculate on temperatures prior to the start of relevant records in the mid-19th century, and compared them with modern temperatures, thus inferring that this summer's temperature may set a record high in about 120000 years. Although the Earth has also warmed before, that happened before human civilization, when sea levels were much higher than they are now, and the Earth's poles did not freeze.
According to scientists cited by Agence France Presse, since the beginning of the industrial era, about 90% of the excess heat generated by human activities has been absorbed by the ocean. As greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the Earth's atmosphere, this heat is also accumulating more and more, to some extent contributing to the hottest summer of this year. From July 31st to August 31st this year, except for the polar regions, the global average sea surface temperature exceeded the highest record set in March 2016 every day. In August, the sea ice area in the Antarctic region dropped to the lowest level since satellite monitoring began in the 1970s, a decrease of about 12% compared to the same period in previous years.
The World Meteorological Organization and the Copernican Climate Change Service said that oceans, which account for over 70% of the Earth's surface, have been at high surface temperatures for three consecutive months since June, with an average temperature of 20.98 degrees Celsius in August, setting a new record for the highest temperature on record.
According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, since the beginning of the year, the global average temperature has reached the highest level on record, only slightly lower than in 2016. If the temperature is normal this winter, there is a high probability that this year will break the 2016 record.
The Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, Petri Taras, reminded in a statement that the current high temperatures occurred "before the global warming effects of the El Ni ñ o phenomenon.". Scientists predict that the most severe impact of the El Ni ñ o phenomenon will manifest from the end of this year to next year.
In 2016, a strong El Ni ñ o phenomenon occurred simultaneously with the highest global average temperature recorded at that time. A forecast released earlier this year by the United Nations meteorological agency showed that there is a 66% chance that the global average temperature will be 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than pre industrial levels for at least one year in the next five years, and a 98% chance that at least one year will become the hottest year.
Taras said that increasingly frequent and intense heat waves are exacerbating air pollution, "having a chain reaction on human health, ecosystems, agriculture, and even our daily lives.".
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Climate change intensifies globally, with multiple environmental indicators reaching new highs last year
On September 6th local time, the annual climate report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States showed that global greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level heights, ocean heat content, and other indicators reached historic highs in 2022.
This report was compiled by the National Environmental Information Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States and was published online on the same day in the monthly issue of the American Meteorological Society Bulletin. More than 570 scientists from over 60 countries and regions around the world participated in this study. The report presents the latest developments in global climate indicators and major climate events through data collected from monitoring stations and scientific instruments deployed in environments such as land, ocean, and space.
The report shows that global greenhouse gas concentrations reached their highest levels on record in 2022. The concentrations of three main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, have reached new highs. Among them, the average global carbon dioxide concentration reached 417.1 ppm, which is 50% higher than pre industrial levels and 2.4 ppm higher than the previous year. This is the highest value measured in modern observation records and ancient climate records dating back 800000 years.
The report states that the global warming trend is still ongoing. Scientific analysis shows that the global surface temperature in 2022 is 0.25 to 0.3 degrees Celsius higher than the average surface temperature from 1991 to 2020, making it one of the hottest six years on record since the mid to late 19th century. Since 1880, the global average annual surface temperature has risen by an average of 0.08 to 0.09 degrees Celsius every 10 years, and the rate of warming has more than doubled since 1981.
The report shows that approximately 58% of the ocean surface experienced at least one ocean heat wave in 2022. The ocean heat content and global sea level height have reached their highest levels on record. Tropical storms have caused serious damage to many regions around the world.
The report states that in 2022, many parts of the world were hit by heatwaves, frequently breaking records for high temperatures. Among them, the record breaking summer heat in Central Asia and East Asia resulted in catastrophic drought, affecting over 38 million people and causing direct economic losses of 4.75 billion US dollars.
The report also shows that in 2022, for the ninth consecutive year, the Arctic experienced abnormal temperatures exceeding the global average, while Antarctica also experienced various extreme weather conditions, with daily data on sea ice extent and sea ice area repeatedly reaching new lows.
