A The 13-month streak of record-breaking global average surface temperatures has “ended, but only just”, said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), in a statement.
The C3S monthly bulletin highlighted that in July the average temperature was 16.91 degrees Celsius (ºC), just 0.04°C lower than the previous record of July last year.
Copernicus warned of new temperature records in Greece and Japan and of a heatwave that caused 21 deaths in 24 hours in Morocco, where temperatures of 48°C were recorded.
The heat was particularly high in the western United States and Canada, most of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as eastern Antarctica and Europe, which recorded its second-hottest July after July 2010.
Last month was 1.48°C warmer than a normal July for the period 1850-1900, before humans began releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere en masse.
“The overall context has not changed: our climate continues to warm,” Burgess stressed.
“The devastating effects of climate change began long before 2023 and will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach carbon neutrality,” he added.
In addition to the heat waves, July saw record floods in Pakistan and China, hurricanes such as Beryl hit the Caribbean and the United States, deadly landslides in the state of Kerala in India, and mega fires in California in the southwestern US.
Last month, the world broke the record for the hottest day ever recorded on July 22 and 23.
The oceans, which absorb 90% of the excess heat generated by human activities, also continue to overheat.
The average ocean temperature in July was 20.88°C, the second highest monthly value for this month, just 0.01°C lower than the record set in 2023, after 15 consecutive monthly records.
Copernicus expressed concern that a larger drop would be expected as the ‘El Niño’ climate phenomenon, known for increasing ocean temperatures, comes to an end.
The observatory stressed that temperatures in the equatorial zone of the Pacific have begun to fall, “which indicates the development of a ‘La Niña'”, a thermal oscillation phenomenon that normally contributes to the cooling of the planet.
Since January, the global average surface temperature has been 0.27°C warmer than it was in the same period in 2023, Copernicus said. A sharp decline would be needed by the end of the year for 2024 to end below last year.
But “this has rarely happened” since measurements began, “which makes it increasingly likely that 2024 will be the warmest year on record,” the observatory concluded.
Read Also: Extreme heat in July caused ‘devastating impacts’
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2611989/e-cada-vez-mais-provavel-que-2024-seja-o-ano-mais-quente-de-sempre
