High temperatures. Exceptionally warm oceans. Record levels of carbon pollution in the atmosphere and low levels of Antarctic ice.
Climate records are being broken and scientists are sounding the alarm, fearing this could be a sign of the planet warming much faster than expected.
Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Sciences at the University of Miami, called the rise in ocean and air temperatures “utterly bonkers”.
He added: “People who look at these charts routinely can hardly believe what they are seeing. Something very strange is happening.”
I know there are a million people sharing temperature anomaly charts and maps lately, but there’s a good reason for that. This is totally bonkers and people who look at this stuff routinely can’t believe their eyes. Something very weird is happening. pic.twitter.com/vZ9eKEs22b
— Brian McNoldy (@BMcNoldy) June 10, 2023
Other scientists said that while the records are alarming, they are not unexpected, given the continuing rise in pollution that warms the planet and the arrival of the natural weather phenomenon El Niño, which has a global warming effect.
Whether the broken records are a sign of climate change progressing beyond the climate models predict, or are the result of the climate crisis unfolding as expected, they remain a very worrying sign of things to come, the scientists said.
“These changes are deeply disturbing because of what they mean for people next summer and every summer after that until we cut our carbon emissions at a much faster pace than we are currently doing,” he told CNN Jennifer Marlon, researcher at the Yale School of the Environment.
The world is already 1.2°C warmer than in pre-industrial times, and the next five years are predicted to be the warmest on record.
“We’ve been saying this for a long time — as polar scientists and as climate scientists — we’ve been saying that you can count on the next few decades for the planet to consistently get warmer,” said Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado-Boulder, The CNN .
“We’re not going back until we actually do something about this.”
Here are four charts showing just how record-breaking this year has been, with the hottest months yet to come.
global temperature spike
Global air temperatures hit record highs in 2023
Daily air temperature of 2 meters (°C) for each year, 1979 to 2023
This year is set to be one of the hottest yet, with global data showing temperatures rising to unusually high levels.
The first eleven days of June saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded for this time of year by a substantial margin, according to an analysis released on Thursday by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
It’s also the first time global air temperatures in June have exceeded pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, the scientists found.
In Canada, where an exceptionally sweltering heat wave is blanketing much of the country, temperatures have broken several records. The heat helped set the stage for “unprecedented” wildfires, which already burn an area about 15 times the average for this time of year and send dangerous smoke into the United States.
Several all-time heat records were also broken earlier this month in Siberia, when temperatures soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38ºC).
Parts of Central America, as well as Texas and Louisiana, are also experiencing scorching temperatures. And Puerto Rico experienced extreme heat in June, with temperatures reaching over 120 degrees Fahrenheit (about 48ºC), according to the National Weather Service.
Swamps of Southeast Asia experienced their “most severe heat wave on record”, while record-setting temperatures in China killed livestock and crops and raised concerns about food safety.
“The current situation is bizarre,” Phil Reid of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology told the CNN . “The strangest El Niño ever. How are you supposed to define or declare an El Niño when it’s hot everywhere?”
Ocean heat comes off the charts
Ocean surface temperatures hit record highs in 2023
Daily sea surface temperature (°C) 1981 to 2023
Oceans are warming at record levels and show no signs of stopping. Rising ocean surface temperatures began to alarm scientists in March, when they started to rise and then spiked to record levels in April, leaving scientists challenging to figure out why.
Last month was the warmest May on record for the world’s oceans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s a warming pattern that has been going on for years.
In 2022, the world’s oceans broke heat records for the fourth consecutive year.
Climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who closely tracks extreme temperatures around the world, said he didn’t think rapid warming would happen anytime soon.
“Even before El Niño was officially declared, the tropics and oceans were already experiencing very rapid warming,” Herrera told CNN . “It was expected, yes,” she added. “But not as fast as before.”
Warming oceans have dire consequences, including coral bleaching, the extinction of marine life and rising sea levels. And while El Niño usually ushers in a less active Atlantic hurricane season, warm ocean temperatures help fuel them, potentially negating or overcoming El Niño’s dampening effect.
Antarctic sea ice at record lows
Antarctic sea ice extent drops to record lows in 2023
Ocean area with at least 15% sea ice per year, 1981-2023
Antarctic sea ice is currently at record levels for this time of year. With scientists worried, it’s yet another sign that the climate crisis has reached this isolated region.
In late February, Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent since records began in the 1970s, at 179,000 square kilometres.
“It’s not just ‘almost a record low,’” Scambos told CNN in season. “It is on a very steep downward trend.”
As Antarctica has entered winter and sea ice has started to grow again, levels are still at record lows for this time of year.
The decline is “truly exceptional and alarming,” Scambos said, noting that Antarctica’s sea ice extent is approximately 100,000 square kilometers – about twice the area of California – below where it should be at this time of year.
“2023 is getting into crazy territory,” he said. Both Reid and Scambos said there is a link between this decline and the warm waters of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Even a tenth of a degree of warming, they said, is enough to inhibit sea ice growth.
Declining sea ice also poses serious harm to species on the continent, including penguins that rely on sea ice for food and hatching.
“In short, the conditions that the Antarctic system depends on to keep heat and ice and certain types of water in their place are deteriorating a little bit,” Scambos said.
“It started with an unusual series of storms in 2016, but there has been a lingering effect that is now leading to more heat being stirred up in the polar water layer, and this is stifling sea ice growth.”
Record carbon dioxide levels
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach a new record in 2023
Carbon dioxide levels peaked at 424 parts per million in May, up 3.0 parts per million from the same time in 2022.
Levels of carbon dioxide in the air, which is released by burning fossil fuels, reached a record high in May, scientists from NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego reported earlier this month.
The 424 parts-per-million record continues “a steady climb into territory not seen for millions of years,” the scientists noted in a statement.
Levels of carbon pollution, which fuels the climate crisis, are now more than 50% higher than before the start of the Industrial Revolution, NOAA said.
“Every year, we see carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere rise as a direct result of human activity,” NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement.
“Every year, we see the impacts of climate change in heatwaves, droughts, floods, wildfires and storms happening all around us.”
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
