According to NASA’s chief climatologist, July will be the hottest month on Earth in “hundreds, if not thousands, of years.” He also assumes that development will continue “because we continue to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”.
“We are seeing unprecedented changes around the world, the heat waves we are seeing in the US, Europe and China are breaking records,” Gavin Schmidt told reporters. Several heat records have already been broken this month, according to measurements from the European Union and the University of Maine, which use ground and satellite data to model preliminary estimates.
While they differed slightly, the trend of extreme heat is undeniable and will likely be confirmed by the more robust monthly reports from US officials, Schmidt added.
In addition, not only the weather phenomenon El Niño, which “has just begun”, can be held responsible for the effects. Even though El Niño plays a small role, it is “the global heat, pretty much everywhere, especially in the oceans”. It has seen record high sea surface temperatures, even outside the tropics, for many months, Schmidt noted.
development will continue
The climate scientist also assumes that the development will continue “because we continue to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”. As greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH4) are the strongest drivers of human-induced climate change. The main sources of carbon dioxide are industry, power generation, transportation and buildings that use fossil fuels.
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) was responsible for the largest share (about 85 percent) of total greenhouse gas emissions in Austria around 2021. Methane mainly arises from microbiological fermentation processes in landfills or in the stomachs of ruminants (livestock farming).
The current weather phenomena increase the chance that 2023 will be the warmest year on record. According to Schmidt’s calculations, the probability is 50 to 50. Other scientists put the probability as high as 80 percent, he said.
“2024 will be an even warmer year”
“We expect 2024 to be an even hotter year as we kick it off with the El Niño phenomenon just starting to build and will peak later this year.”
Source: Krone
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