In Zhengzhou, street residents travel lightly and use various methods to avoid the heat. Visual China Map

Recently, the temperature in many places in northern my country has exceeded 40°C, making many people "too hot to doubt life".

In fact, it is not only our country that has been "roasted", but the whole world. Earth is heading into "uncharted territory" as the world's ocean temperatures soar and a Pacific El Niño looms that could make 2023 the hottest year on record, researchers say.

The previous hottest year on record was 2016, and this month's temperature records suggest 2023 could be as hot as 2016. Data from the European Union's Earth Observation Program - Copernicus Program show that the peak temperature occurred on June 9, when the global average temperature was 16.7°C, only 0.1°C lower than the highest temperature recorded on August 13, 2016.

It's worth noting that while human-driven climate change is still warming the globe, there's no evidence that the process has accelerated this year.

In addition to the current warming of 1.3°C caused by climate change, specific warming conditions have superimposed to make the temperature record repeatedly set new highs. Scientists have been warning for months that sea surface temperatures have been at record highs due to a series of marine heatwaves around the world. On June 11, the temperature in the North Atlantic reached its highest point - 22.7°C, which was 0.5°C higher than the highest record in June 2010.

El Niño, which warms the oceans, has just arrived and peaked at the end of the year. So, what exactly makes the ocean so hot?

According to Samantha Burgess, a member of the Copernicus project, weakening trade winds due to changes in atmospheric dynamics are the most likely cause. In the North Atlantic, weaker winds may have reduced the amount of dust blown from the Sahara that normally helps cool the ocean.

"The spike in ocean and air temperatures at this time of year is surprising. What has been observed so far suggests that 2023 could be one of the five warmest years," Burgess said. "Never before in human history has Such 'warm' oceans, and record-breaking air temperatures. We're in uncharted territory."

It's also El Niño plus climate change, but this year's high temperature performance is very different from 2016. In 2016, the temperature peaks concentrated in Siberia and the Arctic; in 2023, many regions, including Antarctica, will experience high temperature weather.

In recent months, people have become increasingly concerned about the decline of Antarctic sea ice, because in February this year, the Antarctic sea ice area was only 1.79 million square kilometers, setting a record for the smallest sea ice extent on record. Although sea ice is slowly increasing as winter approaches, it is still far below average and growing at a much slower rate than in the past.

(The original title was "2023 may become the hottest year on record")