Tuesday was the hottest day recorded on Earth, initial readings show
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SINGAPORE - Tuesday was the hottest day so far recorded by mankind, according to initial data from a United States government agency, with fears that more temperature records will be broken in the coming weeks as the El Nino weather pattern takes hold.
The average daily temperature for the planet – land and ocean – reached 17.18 deg C, according to data from the National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), which is part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It broke the record set just the day before, on Monday, when the average global daily temperature hit 17.01 deg C.
Before that, the previous record was 16.92 deg C, set on July 24, 2022, and in August 2016, according to the NCEP data, which goes back to 1979 and relies on a mix of daily surface, radiosonde and satellite observations.
A radiosonde is a battery-powered weather measuring instrument carried high into the atmosphere by a balloon.
Temperatures, especially on land, vary greatly across the planet and at different times of the year, with high temperatures closer to the tropics and colder temperatures at the poles.
It is summer in the Northern Hemisphere now, and winter in the south, so a global average temperature reading helps scientists better understand how the planet is changing.
The record comes as fossil fuel emissions and deforestation are driving climate change, pushing up global temperatures and leading to record heatwaves, floods, wildfires and melting ice caps.
El Nino, a naturally occurring warming of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean,
“Tuesday was the hottest day ever recorded on Planet Earth… Let that sink in,” said Professor Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore at Nanyang Technological University.
“Regrettably, it promises to only be the first in a series of new records set over the next 18 months as increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, together with a strengthening El Nino, push temperatures to new extremes,” he told The Straits Times.
The average daily air temperature on the planet’s surface on Tuesday was logged at 17.18 deg C.
PHOTO: AFP
El Nino typically brings hotter and drier weather to South-east Asia and Australia, and severe events can trigger drought and wildfires.
“To save lives and livelihoods, it is vital we have early warnings of extreme weather events. We must communicate heat warning information and the appropriate responses to the public associated with this major climate phenomenon,” said Prof Horton.
The heat record data underscores the extreme nature of 2023’s Northern Hemisphere summer. Heat records are tumbling in many places. Heatwaves have scorched parts of China, with Beijing recently breaking records,
Severe heat and drought have fuelled record fires in Canada, hottest June on record.
The planetary-wide heat record is no surprise. Oceans have been heating up, too. Global average sea surface temperatures reached a record of 21.1 deg C in April
The oceans have been soaking up more than 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions and have been acting as a moderating influence on global temperatures. Without the oceans, which cover 70 per cent of the earth’s surface, the land areas would be much warmer.
The problem is the oceans have now absorbed so much heat that they, too, are reaching dangerous thresholds. Rising ocean temperatures are triggering more severe marine heatwaves that are damaging coral reefs, as well as accelerating the melting of ice caps.
The oceans have been soaking up more than 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions.
PHOTO: AFP
“This is not a milestone we should be celebrating. It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems,” Dr Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment in London, told Bloomberg, referring to Monday’s temperature record.
As the world keeps warming, humanity and nature are being pushed into dangerous territory, scientists say.
“Global warming is leading us into an unfamiliar world,” said Dr Robert Rohde, lead scientist at Berkeley Earth, in a tweet.
On Monday, the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) declared El Nino was already under way and urged governments to prepare for its impacts. It said there was a 90 per cent chance that it would continue during the second half of 2023.
“The onset of El Nino will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records and triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean,” said WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas.
“The declaration of an El Nino by WMO is the signal to governments around the world to mobilise preparations to limit the impacts on our health, our ecosystems and our economies.”
El Nino occurs on average every two to seven years, and episodes typically last nine to 12 months.
The heat record shows the urgent need for global action on climate change, said Professor Kathryn Bowen, deputy director of Melbourne Climate Futures at the University of Melbourne.
“Action on climate change is an issue of justice, and we face important decisions this year and this decade to ensure that our emissions from coal, gas and oil are rapidly reduced, otherwise we will continue to watch records breaking across the globe,” she told the Australian Science Media Centre.
“Crucial decisions need to be made in the lead up to and during COP28 to commit to the urgent transformations needed to secure a liveable future,” she said, referring to the UN climate summit being held at the end of the year in the United Arab Emirates.
