The UN secretary general has expressed worry that “climate change is out of control”, following the unofficial analysis of data which showed that average world temperatures in the seven days to Wednesday were the hottest week on record.
Various parts of the world have been experiencing heatwaves and on Thursday the EU’s climate monitoring service said the world had experienced its hottest June on record last month. The southern US has been sweltering under an intense heat dome in recent weeks, including on the national 4 July holiday on Tuesday. In parts of China, an enduring heatwave has continued, with temperatures reaching above 35C.
“If we persist in delaying key measures that are needed, I think we are moving into a catastrophic situation, as the last two records in temperature demonstrates,” António Guterres said, referring to the world temperature records broken on Monday and Tuesday.
According to data collated by the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the average global air temperature was 17.18C (62.9F) on Tuesday, surpassing the record 17.01C reached on Monday.
According to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer data, for the seven-day period ending Wednesday, the daily average temperature was .04C (.08F), higher than any week in 44 years of record-keeping. That metric showed that Earth’s average temperature on Wednesday remained at the record high of 17.18C.
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Climate Reanalyzer uses data from the NCEP climate forecast system to provide a time series of daily mean two-metre air temperature, based on readings from surface, air balloon and satellite observations.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), whose figures are considered the gold standard in climate data, was also quoted as saying on Thursday that it could not validate the unofficial numbers.
It noted that the reanalyzer uses model output data, which it called “not suitable” as substitutes for actual temperatures and climate records. The NOAA monitors global temperatures and records on a monthly and an annual basis, not daily.
“We recognise that we are in a warm period due to climate change, and combined with El Niño and hot summer conditions, we’re seeing record warm surface temperatures being recorded at many locations across the globe,” the NOAA said.
Nevertheless, scientists agree they indicate climate change is reaching uncharted territory and that the increased heat from anthropogenic global heating combined with the return of El Niño would lead to more record-breaking temperatures.
The UN confirmed the return of El Niño, a sporadic weather pattern, on Tuesday. The last major El Niño was in 2016, which remains the hottest year on record.
“Chances are that the month of July will be the warmest ever, and with it the hottest month ever … ‘ever’ meaning since the Eemian [interglacial period], which is indeed some 120,000 years ago,” Dr Karsten Haustein, a research fellow in atmospheric radiation at Leipzig University, said.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
