It is getting warmer on earth: Last year, according to the EU climate change service Copernicus, the global temperature was 1.48 degrees above the average for the years 1850 to 1900 – a new high.
According to the EU climate change service Copernicus, last year remained just below the 1.5 degree threshold. The global temperature was 1.48 degrees higher than the average for the years 1850 to 1900, according to Copernicus Report “Global Climate Highlights 2023” announced.
“It is likely that temperatures in 2023 will be warmer than in the past 100,000 years,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Climate researchers can indirectly reconstruct the historical climate from tree rings or air bubbles in glaciers.
Copernicus had already announced in December that the year was the warmest since records began in 1850. It can be assumed that in January or February 2024 there will be a period of 12 months above the 1.5 degree threshold, it was now said.
Will 2024 be even warmer?
Experts believe it is entirely possible that 2024 will be even warmer and that the entire year could break the 1.5 degree threshold for the first time. However, that does not mean that the Paris 1.5 degree target has been missed, as longer-term average values are being looked at.
According to Copernicus, the global average temperature in 2023 was 14.98 degrees Celsius, 0.17 degrees higher than the previous record year of 2016. Last year, for the first time, every day of the year was at least one degree above pre-industrial levels, on two Days in November it was even more than two degrees.
From June to December, every month was warmer than the previously recorded record values for the respective month. Europe experienced its second warmest year on record.
Main reason: increase in Greenhouse gas concentration
“A key cause of the unusual air temperatures in 2023 was the unprecedentedly high surface temperatures of the oceans,” says Copernicus. The main reason for the warm seas is the continued increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Another factor is the recurring weather phenomenon El Niño, which began last year. It heats up the Pacific every few years.
Overall, global sea surface temperatures from April to December reached record values for this period. “The extreme events we have observed in recent months are a dramatic testimony to how far we have moved from the climate in which our civilization previously thrived,” said C3S director Carlo Buontempo. He called for the decarbonization of the economy to be pushed forward.
The European Union’s climate change service Copernicus regularly publishes data on surface temperatures, sea ice cover and precipitation. The findings are based on computer-generated analyzes that incorporate billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.
Jakob Mayr, ARD Brussels, tagesschau, January 9th, 2024 1:13 p.m