Last July will go down in history as the hottest month on Earth since there are records, and more and more scientific data support that conclusion. The analysis of the measurements collected by the European climate change service Copernicus (C3S) also argues that July 2023 broke the record for both air and ocean temperature.

Its report, published on Tuesday and based on data collected by satellites, ships, planes and weather stations around the world, also highlights the large number of heat waves suffered by many regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including southern Europe. High temperatures have also been the trend in several countries in South America and Antarctica, although it is now winter.

"These records have dire consequences for both people and the planet, exposed to increasingly frequent and intense extreme events," warned Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), on the occasion of the presentation of this report that comes just as Spain faces its third heat wave this summer, which will be the most extreme of those we have suffered if the weather forecasts are met: after a brief heat break last weekend, the thermometers will reach up to 45ºC and the AEMET has issued a special warning for high temperatures.

As far as the global (surface) air temperature in July 2023 is concerned, it is confirmed that July was the hottest among any other month, not just between the months of July. Specifically, it was 0.72°C warmer than the average for July between 1991 and 2020. It therefore supersedes the previous record, registered in July 2019, by 0.33 ºC of difference. The reading of the long-term data also reveals that it was 1.5 ºC more torrid than the average for July between 1850-1900, that is, at the beginning of the industrial era.

At the end of last week we learned that on August 1 the average ocean temperature had broken the record by reaching 20.96 ºC (the previous highest record was measured on March 29, 2016 and was very similar, 20.95 ºC). According to the Copernicus report, the average ocean temperature has risen continuously since April 2023 to reach record levels in July, with 0.51 ºC above the average of the period 1991-2020.

But that's the global average, the data in some oceans are particularly high and worrying. Thus, the North Atlantic had a temperature 1.05 ºC above average for July.

Heat waves affected the entire Mediterranean but also the Caribbean and southern Greenland, while El Niño conditions continued to develop over the eastern Pacific.

The oceans regulate the world's climate and absorb a large amount of CO2 from the atmosphere and produce much of the Earth's oxygen, so warming at this rate worries scientists. A warmer ocean has less capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, which means more CO2 remains in the atmosphere.

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Drought.

How to survive in a Spain with less water: "With the climate that is coming upon us, it will not be possible to maintain the current irrigated area"

  • Writing: TERESA GUERRERO Madrid

How to survive in a Spain with less water: "With the climate that is coming upon us, it will not be possible to maintain the current irrigated area"

Drought.

Water scarcity in Spain, in graphics: "We spend more than we can afford"

  • Writing: TERESA GUERRERO Madrid
  • Writing: JULIANA SUÁREZ (GRAPHICS)
  • Writing: ELSA MARTÍN (GRAPHICS)

Water scarcity in Spain, in graphics: "We spend more than we can afford"

As Samantha Burgess recalls, "2023 is already the third hottest year to date, with 0.43 degrees above average, and 1.5 degrees above the start of the industrial era. Even if it were temporary, it shows the urgency of ambitious efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main culprits behind these records."

The influence of the El Niño phenomenon

Comparing the averages from January to July, the global average for 2023 is the third highest on record, with a difference of 0.43°C compared to the period 1991-2020. In 2016, the difference was 0.49°C and in 2020, 0.48°C. However, the analysis by Copernicus scientists notes that the gap between 2023 and 2016 is expected to narrow in the coming months, as the latter part of 2016 was relatively cold, while the rest of 2023 is expected to be relatively warm as a consequence of the development of the El Niño phenomenon.

Also worrying are the data coming from Antarctica, where the extent of the ice sheet was 15% lower than normal at this time of year, with the lowest ice surface recorded in a month of July since observations began. As far as the extent of the Arctic ice cap is concerned, it was slightly below the minimum and was highest in the northern coast of Siberia.

The report also collects rainfall data. It rained more than it rains on average across most of northern Europe and in a region from the Black Sea and Ukraine to northwestern Russia, while drier-than-average conditions were experienced across the entire Mediterranean basin, with Italy and southeastern Europe having the largest anomalies.

In other places in the world such as northeastern North America, Afghanistan, Pakistan, northeastern China, northern and eastern Australia and Chile, July 2023 was wetter than average, while at the other extreme it rained less than usual in Mexico, the southwestern United States, central and southeast Asia, southwestern Australia and southern parts of Brazil and Paraguay.

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