According to data compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Maine, the global average temperature at 2 meters above the Earth's surface reached 17.01°C on July 3, breaking the previous record set in July 2022 and August 2016. The record of 16.92°C became the highest average temperature ever recorded in the world, surpassing 17°C for the first time.
At the beginning of last month, NOAA issued an alert saying that the El Niño phenomenon has appeared and is expected to continue into winter, and may develop into a moderate El Niño or a strong El Niño phenomenon. On July 4, the World Meteorological Organization announced that El Niño conditions had formed in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years. Robert Rohde of the University of California, Berkeley, said El Niño could accelerate temperature spikes in parts of the United States, Europe and Canada.
The NOAA and University of Maine data set goes back only to 1979. But Rohde said it was the highest level since its own instrumentation. It was an "expected milestone" given that climate change and El Niño are twin drivers of global warming, he said.
"If you add El Niño to global warming, the temperature will exceed the threshold every few years until global warming is effectively controlled," Rohde said.
The record temperature comes on the heels of a record high temperature set in June. A few days ago, the British National Meteorological Office announced that June 2023 will be the hottest month on record in the country, with an average temperature of 15.8°C that month, 0.9°C higher than the previous record.
In a release, Paul Davies, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, noted that, in addition to natural variability, human-induced atmospheric warming has also increased the likelihood of record high temperatures.
At the same time, data from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service Center also confirmed that the global average temperature in June 2023 will be 1.46°C higher than the pre-industrial level, which is getting closer to the threshold of 1.5°C promised by all countries not to exceed the pre-industrial level.
The global average temperature peaks in July because land temperature fluctuations are larger than the ocean, and the northern hemisphere has a larger land area than the southern hemisphere, so the northern hemisphere has a greater impact on the global average temperature.
According to the latest information released by the World Meteorological Organization, combined with model forecasts and expert assessments in many parts of the world, there is a 90% probability that an El Niño event will occur between July and September 2023 and last until the end of the year, and it will be "at least moderately strong." . Coupled with the arrival of summer in the northern hemisphere, Rohde believes that July and August are likely to see another record-setting global average temperature.
"This year has a good chance of being the hottest year on record globally," Rohde said. (Original title "July 3 becomes the hottest day ever recorded in the world")
