'Climate breakdown' warning as world suffers its hottest summer ever
The world is facing a 'climate breakdown' as it endures the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer ever recorded, the United Nations have warned
The Earth has been subjected to scorching and deadly temperatures this year, with August setting a new record for heat, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Last month was not only the warmest August ever documented, but it also ranks as the second hottest month ever measured, falling just behind the one that proceeded it July 2023.
These alarming figures were released by both the WMO and the European climate service Copernicus on Wednesday. August's temperatures soared about 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages. This is the warming threshold that global efforts are striving to avoid.
However, this 1.5 C threshold is meant to be considered over decades, not just one month, so scientists do not view this brief spike as catastrophic. The world's oceans, which cover more than 70 per cent of the Earth's surface, have also experienced record-breaking warmth.
With temperatures nearing 21C (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit), they have set high temperature records for three consecutive months, as reported by the WMO and Copernicus. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement saying: "The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting. Climate breakdown has begun."
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As it stands, 2023 is shaping up to be the second hottest year on record, trailing only behind 2016, according to data from Copernicus. Scientists have attributed the ever-warming climate to human activities further exacerbated by a natural phenomenon known as El Nino, which temporarily warms parts of the Pacific Ocean, altering weather patterns globally. This year's El Nino, which began earlier, has added extra heat to global temperatures, particularly in its second year.
Climatologist Andrew Weaver expressed disappointment at the figures announced by WMO and Copernicus, and warned that governments worldwide have not taken the issue of global warming seriously enough. He fears that the public will dismiss the issue once temperatures drop again.
Weaver, a professor at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria in Canada, said: "It's time for global leaders to start telling the truth. We will not limit warming to 1.5C; we will not limit warming to 2C. It's all hands on deck now to prevent 3C global warming - a level of warming that will wreak havoc worldwide."
Copernicus, a division of the European Union's space program, has records dating back to 1940. However, in the United Kingdom and the United States, global records date back to the mid-1800s. Weather and science agencies from these countries are expected to soon report that this summer was a record-breaker.
In a stark warning to the world, Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo stated: "What we are observing, not only new extremes but the persistence of these record-breaking conditions, and the impacts these have on both people and planet, are a clear consequence of the warming of the climate system."
Scientists, using tree rings, ice cores and other proxies, have estimated that our planet is now experiencing temperatures warmer than any time in the last 120,000 years. While Earth has been warmer in its distant past, those periods predate human civilization, featured significantly higher sea levels, and lacked icy poles.
According to the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer, daily September temperatures are already surpassing previous records for this time of year. Meanwhile, as the world's air and oceans continue to set heat records, Antarctica is setting its own chilling records with unprecedentedly low amounts of sea ice, as reported by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up The Mirror's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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