The month of September was the hottest on record around the world in a year that is expected to be the hottest in history after the warmest-ever global temperatures during the Northern Hemisphere summer.
September's average surface air temperature of 16.38 degrees Celsius was 0.93 degrees above the 1991-2020 monthly average and 0.5 degrees above the previous record set in 2020, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said in a report published Thursday.
Temperature records are normally broken by much smaller margins, closer to 0.1 degrees.
Global average temperatures from January to September were 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than the preindustrial average (from 1850 to 1900), almost reaching the 1.5 degree warming limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement, made at the Cop21 United Nations climate conference.
The limit was seen as essential to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change.
Climate change
Scientists have said that climate change is responsible for the high temperatures, combined this year with the El Nino weather pattern that warms the surface waters in the southern Pacific Ocean and makes hotter weather elsewhere.
Although El Nino has been playing a role in the warming, "there's no doubt that climate change has made it much worse", C3S director Carlo Buontempo told the AFP news agency.
With El Nino expected to continue through the beginning of next year, 2023 is likely to become the hottest year on record.
The average global temperature from January-September was already 0.05 degrees higher than the period in 2016, the warmest year recorded so far.
Heat everywhere
Europe experienced its hottest September on record, with temperatures 2.51 degrees higher than the 1991-2020 average, with many countries, including France, breaking national records.
The average sea surface temperature for the month, excluding the polar regions, also reached all-time highs in September, at 20.92 degrees.
Scientists say warmer sea surface temperatures driven by climate change is making extreme weather events more intense, like Storm Daniel that caused floods in Libya and Greece in September.
Antarctic sea ice remained at a record low level for the time of year, while monthly Arctic sea ice was 18 percent below average, C3S added.
Climate conference heating up
The next round of UN climate talks, Cop28, opens in Dubai on 30 November, and world leaders will be tasked with finding a consensus on cutting the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change as well as financing adaptation and mitigation.
The UN said Wednesday in a report synthesising governments' positions ahead of Cop28 that there were "divergent views" among parties over how to reach the Paris Cop21 goals, even if they agreed that past climate action has been insufficient.
(with AFP)
