Boiling Earth: The planet experienced the hottest quarter on record

According to the WMO, the intensity of climate change and the frequency of heatwaves are getting worse. August was the second hottest month on record.

A new study reveals that the Earth experienced the hottest quarter on record. The sea surface temperatures are unprecedented and the weather conditions were quite extreme.

The report released this Wednesday by the World Meteorological Organization, the WMO and the Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms the the intensity gets worse climate change and the frequency of heat waves.

the hottest quarter ever recorded on Earth

Impact on air quality and health

the reality of extreme heat wavesexacerbated by desert fires and dust, they have a measurable impact on air quality, human health and the environment.

The period between January and August this year is the second warmest on record after 2016, after the intense warming caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

Climatologist Álvaro Silva comments on the current scenario to UN News from Lisbon and reveals that it can still be reversed.

“It was already predictable. This balance we are making now, at the end of the climatic summer, which was the hottest on record, was already predicted after an extremely hot July, the hottest on record. And the August was the second warmest August on record.

“This evaluation leads us to reflect and, above all, to want more in terms of quality climate action and reduction of greenhouse gases. Only with an increase in this ambition, from the point of view of greenhouse gas mitigation, will it be possible to mitigate and therefore counteract this growing trend of rising global temperatures”.

Scientists involved in the research made a collective assessment of recent global trends and what can be expected by examining warming in the ocean basin and increasing marine heat waves.

Higher than the March 2016 record

Antarctic sea ice extent remains at a record high for this time of year, according to the survey.

Last month was about 1.5°C warmer than the pre-industrial average between 1850 and 1900. The period between January and August this year is the second warmest on record after 2016, after intense warming caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

In the whole month of August saw the highest monthly mean sea surface temperatures on record, with 20.98°C. Temperatures for all 30 days of the period surpassed the previous record set in March 2016.

In a statement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the planet just experienced the hottest summer on record and that “climate collapse” had begun.

New record in the next five years

For the leader of the organization it is still possible to avoid the worst of the climate chaos and there is no time to waste.

From Antarctic sea ice extent it remained at a record low for this time of year, with a monthly value 12% below average.

The data represents by far the largest negative anomaly for August since satellite observations began in the late 1970s.

Arctic sea ice extent was 10% below average but well above the all-time low in August 2012.

In May, a report from the UK’s WMO and Met Office indicated a 98% probability that at least one of the next five years will be the warmest on record.

Source: United Nations News

Source: Terra

Rose

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