EU Scientists Confirm 2023 “Almost Certainly” the Hottest Year in 125,000 Years
The information was released on November 8, after the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported that last October broke the record for the hottest October globally, previously set in 2019, by a significant margin.
People navigating the streets under the scorching sun in Tokyo, Japan, on July 16. (Photo: Kyodo/TTXVN).
Deputy Director of C3S, Samantha Burgess, stated: “The record was broken by 0.4 degrees Celsius, which is a very large difference.” She described last October’s temperatures as “extremely severe.”
The heatwave is a result of continuous greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, combined with the emergence of the El Niño phenomenon this year, which has warmed the surface waters in the Eastern Pacific.
Globally, the average surface air temperature for October was 1.7 degrees Celsius warmer compared to the same month during the period from 1850 to 1900, which C3S defines as pre-industrial times. C3S noted that breaking the October record means that 2023 is now “almost certainly” the hottest year on record.
The previous record was set in 2016, also a year marked by an El Niño event. C3S’s dataset has been compiled since 1940. “When we combine our data with that of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we can state that this is the hottest year in the last 125,000 years,” Burgess added. Longer-term data from the IPCC includes information from sources like ice cores and tree rings.
People navigating the streets under the scorching sun in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, on July 6. (Photo: THX/TTXVN).
Climate scientist Michael Mann from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) remarked: “Most years with El Niño set new records. El Niño exacerbates the steady warming caused by human activities.”
Climate change is leading to extreme weather patterns. This year, floods have caused thousands of deaths in Libya. Severe heatwaves have occurred in South America, and Canada experienced its worst wildfire season on record.
Climate scientist Piers Forster from the University of Leeds (UK) analyzed: “We must not allow the floods, wildfires, storms, and heatwaves of this year to become the new normal. By rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade, we can halve the rate of warming.”
Although countries have set goals to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this has not yet happened. Global CO2 emissions reached a record high of 36.8 billion tons in 2022.
