February 2024 was the warmest ever recorded on a global scale, ninth month in a row that breaks the relevant recordas scientists report.
Every month since June 2023 now records a temperature record for the corresponding time of year.
Sea surface temperatures are the hottest on record, while Antarctic sea ice has once once more reached extremely low levels.
February was the ninth consecutive month to register as the warmest on record — while sea temperatures have reached uncharted territory
— Bloomberg (@business) March 7, 2024
The temperatures are still increasing from the El Niño weather phenomenon in the Pacific, but the climate change caused by humans remains by far the main cause of rising temperatures.
“Heat-trapping greenhouse gases are undoubtedly the main culprit,” says Professor Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization.
Carbon dioxide concentrations are at their highest level in at least two million years, according to the UN’s climate agency, and are on a record rise once more.
Greenhouse gases have resulted in February 2024 being around 1.77C warmer than “pre-industrial” times before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels – according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Agency.
The new record breaks the previous record, from 2016, by regarding 0.12C.
High temperatures hit western Australia, south-east Asia, southern Africa and South America.
Recent records are not just limited to air temperatures. Countless climate measurements are well above levels seen in modern times.
One of the most notable metrics is sea surface temperatures which have been hitting record highs in recent months.
The researchers are keen to stress that the scale and extent of the ocean warming is not simply a consequence of the natural weather phenomenon known as El Niño.
“Ocean surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific clearly reflect El Niño. But sea surface temperatures elsewhere on the planet have been persistently and unusually high over the past 10 months,” the researchers explain.
#Copernicus #Warmest #February #record #temperature #record
