The much-feared data has now been officially confirmed: It was the year 2023 hot on the planet According to different parameters that started to be measured in 1850, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Earth observation program of the European space programme.
Because “Unprecedented” abnormal temperatures, especially in the second half of the yearIn 2023, the average surface air temperature reached 14.98 °C, surpassing 2016 by 0.17 °C and holding the record for the hottest year ever.
According to the Bonn-based institution (Germany) it was 0.60 °C above average levels over the last three decades and 1.48 °C above pre-industrial reference levels between 1850 and 1900.
The year 2023 was “most likely the warmest” year in history and “Possibly one of the hottest in the last 100,000 years“, C3S director Carlo Buontempo stated at a press conference.
“Basically, this means that our cities, our roads, our monuments, our farms, and in general all our human activities have never had to deal with such a hot climate,” he added.
Last year was also the first year in which the average temperature on each day exceeded pre-industrial levels by 1 degree. during almost half of the days exceeded the “critical limit” of 1.5 °CThe rate of people doing this in 2016 was 20%.
This doesn’t mean there are limits. Paris AgreementCopernicus explained that these indicated extreme temperatures for periods of at least 20 years, but still set a “catastrophic precedent.”
two days in November For the first time, they exceeded relevant pre-industrial levels by more than 2°C.
List of negative records
Negative records do not end there due to the size of the Antarctic sea ice sheet all time lows While it was at daily and monthly levels in February 2023, it remained at extraordinarily low levels for eight months of the year.
At the same time concentration atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane were the highest ever measured, with record annual forecasts of 419 and 1902 parts per million (ppm), respectively, 2.4 and 11 ppm more than the previous year.
World average temperatures sea surfaces were also unusually high It reached record levels for the period from April to December and was associated with marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the North Pacific, as well as much of the Atlantic. . North.
The main reason for this was the increase in greenhouse gas concentration, but the climate phenomenon known as the climate phenomenon Boy, It started last July.
Second hottest year ever recorded in Europe
Average air temperatures by region have broken or approached records in most regions. ocean basins and from all continents except Australia.
As the researcher explains Francesca Guglielmo stated that the biggest contribution to air temperature anomalies in the May-August and September-December periods comes from the tropical ocean edges.
In Europe, 2023 was the second hottest year ever recorded. 0.17 °C below initial temperature, 2022and was 1.02 °C above the average of the last thirty years, making September the warmest month ever measured on the continent.
C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess said there were signs that regions bordering the Mediterranean, in particular, were warming faster than other continental regions, citing high temperatures recorded throughout the year in parts of Spain, France and parts of Eastern Europe.
According to Buontempo, the main factor behind the anomalies detected globally, beyond the impact of El Niño, is the increase in human greenhouse gas concentrations. fossil fuels.
C3S manager warned that if this process cannot be reversed, “there is no reason to expect different results” in the future, and in this case, “the record-breaking 2023 will probably be remembered in a few years.” aspect “It’s a great year.”