EU Climate Agency: Another Record High Temperature for March
2024-04-10
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1The European Union's climate agency, Copernicus, says the world's temperature averaged 14.14 degrees Celsius in March.
2The latest monthly temperature means that Copernicus has reported a record high temperature for 10 months in a row.
3Copernicus added that the month was 1.68 degrees warmer than the estimated average for the month of March for the period from 1850 to 1900.
4The agency calls this period the "pre-industrial" period before oil, gas and coal were used in large amounts.
5Since last June, weather agencies have been reporting record high average world temperatures.
6Some scientists say they are not surprised by the reports.
7This year, a strong El Niño event is affecting weather in many parts of the world.
8El Niño is an unusually warm current that periodically appears in the southern Pacific Ocean and changes weather in places around the world.
9Jennifer Francis is a scientist with the nonprofit Woodwell Climate Research Center in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.
10She said the periodic warm current is part of high temperatures:
11"But its combination with the non-natural marine heat waves made these records so breathtaking."
12Francis added that, as the El Niño becomes less intense, the reported temperatures above global averages should go down.
13Climate scientists, like Francis, say that human activity is responsible for the record heat.
14They say burning coal, oil and natural gas results in more carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.
15Those two are called "greenhouse gases" because they are said to "trap heat."
16"The trajectory will not change until concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop rising," Francis said.
17"...We must stop burning fossil fuels, stop deforestation, and grow our food more sustainably as quickly as possible."
18Until then, Francis added, expect more broken records.
19The 2015 Paris Agreement is an international plan that sets a goal of limiting the increase of the world's average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius or below.
20Its idea is to keep temperatures as close as possible to "pre-industrial" levels.
21Samantha Burgess is deputy director of Copernicus Climate Change Service.
22She said the new March record temperature was not as high compared to other records.
23"We've had record-breaking months that have been even more unusual," Burgess said.
24These include February 2024 and September of 2023.
25But Burgess noted, the "trajectory is not in the right direction."
26For March, Copernicus also reported that global sea surface temperatures averaged 21.07 degrees Celsius.
27The agency said this was the highest value ever recorded.
28The temperatures are only for the area between 60 degrees south latitude and 60 degrees north latitude.
29The Copernicus' official said more needs to be done to control world temperatures.
30"We need more ambitious global action to ensure that we can get to net zero as soon as possible," Burgess said.
31I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.