Morti touches extremes/ Record temperature on land and sea

2023-07-03 16:51:45, Sociale CNA

The goal of not allowing climate change to cause temperature changes of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times is becoming unattainable, environmental experts say. They express concern that countries have failed to set ambitious climate targets, despite record temperatures on land and sea.

As representatives of many countries gathered in Bonn, Germany earlier this month to prepare for the annual climate negotiations to be held in November, global average temperatures were, for several days in a row, above 1.5 degrees Celsius on higher than pre-industrial temperatures, said the European Union-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

Although average temperatures have temporarily exceeded the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the past, this is the first time that this change has been recorded during the summer period in the Northern Hemisphere. Sea temperatures also broke records for April and May.

"We are running out of time because even change takes time," said Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a climatologist at Australia's University of New South Wales.

As envoys from the two top greenhouse gas emitters, the US and China, prepare to meet next month, records for the highest June temperatures were broken in the Chinese capital, Beijing, as extreme heatwaves have hit the United States of America.

Parts of North America were about 10 degrees Celsius above the seasonal average in June, and smoke from wildfires blanketed Canada and the US east coast. Carbon emissions are estimated to have reached a record 160 million metric tons.

In India, one of the regions most at risk from climate change, deaths were reported to have increased as a result of high temperatures. Extreme heat has also been reported in Spain, Iran and Vietnam, raising fears that last year's deadly summer could become routine.

World leaders agreed in Paris in 2015 to try to keep long-term average temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but there is now a 66 percent chance the annual average will exceed that threshold, according to World Organization forecasts. Meteorological in May.

Global average sea surface temperatures reached 21 degrees Celsius at the end of March and remained at record levels throughout April and May. Australia's weather agency warned that sea temperatures in the Pacific and Indian Ocean could be 3 degrees Celsius warmer than usual by October.

Global warming is the main factor, said Piers Forster, professor of climate physics at the University of Leeds, but El Nino, the fall of Saharan dust on the ocean and the use of low-sulphur transport fuels have also played a role.

"So overall, the oceans are being attacked by a quadruple whammy," he said. "It is a warning of the things that await us."

Thousands of dead fish washed up on Texas beaches, while heat-induced algal blooms have been blamed for killing sea lions and dolphins in California.

Warmer seas can mean less wind and rain, creating a vicious cycle that leads to even more heat, said Annalisa Bracco, a climatologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology./ REL