June– August 2023
June, July, and August were 0.23 ° C( 0.41 ° F) warmer than any other summertime in NASAs record. The summer season of 2023 was Earths most popular given that global records started in 1880, according to researchers at NASAs Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York.
The months of June, July, and August combined were 0.23 degrees Celsius (0.41 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than any other summer in NASAs record, and 1.2 ° C( 2.1 ° F) warmer than the typical summertime between 1951 and 1980. August alone was 1.2 ° C( 2.2 ° F) warmer than the average. June through August is thought about meteorological summertime in the Northern Hemisphere.
International Impact of Temperature Anomalies
The map at the top of this post depicts global temperature level abnormalities for June, July, and August 2023. It demonstrates how much warmer or cooler Earth was compared to the baseline average from 1951 to 1980. Note that the deepest reds are at least 4 ° C( 7 ° F) above the mean.
This new record comes as exceptional heat swept across much of the world, worsening fatal wildfires in Canada and Hawaii, and searing heat waves in South America, Japan, Europe, and the U.S., while most likely contributing to severe rains in Italy, Greece, and Central Europe.
Effects and Causes of the Temperature Surge
” Summer 2023s record-setting temperatures arent just a set of numbers– they result in alarming real-world effects. From sweltering temperature levels in Arizona and throughout the country, to wildfires across Canada, and extreme flooding in Europe and Asia, severe weather condition is threatening lives and incomes around the globe,” stated NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The effects of environment modification are a hazard to our world and future generations, dangers that NASA and the Biden-Harris Administration are tackling head-on.”
NASA assembles its temperature level record, referred to as GISTEMP, from surface area air temperature level information obtained by tens of thousands of meteorological stations, in addition to sea surface temperature level information from ship- and buoy-based instruments. This raw information is examined utilizing approaches that represent the different spacing of temperature stations around the globe and for city heating effects that could skew the computations.
The analysis computes temperature abnormalities instead of outright temperature level. A temperature abnormality demonstrates how far the temperature has actually departed from the 1951 to 1980 base average.
Function of El Niño in Temperature Elevations
” Exceptionally high sea surface area temperature levels, fueled in part by the return of El Niño, were largely responsible for the summer seasons record warmth,” said Josh Willis, environment researcher and oceanographer at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
El Niño is a natural environment phenomenon characterized by warmer than regular sea surface area temperatures (and greater water level) in the main and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
1880– 2023
The record-setting summer season of 2023 continues a long-term trend of warming. Scientific observations and analyses made over decades by NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other worldwide institutions have shown this warming has been driven mostly by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, natural El Niño events in the Pacific pump additional heat into the worldwide atmosphere and typically correlate with the warmest years on record.
El Niños Broader Effects and Implications
” With background warming and marine heat waves that have been creeping up on us for years, this El Niño shot us over the hump for setting all type of records,” Willis stated. “The heat waves that we experience now are longer, theyre hotter, and theyre more penalizing. The environment can likewise hold more water now, and when its humid and hot, its even harder for the body to control its temperature.”
Willis and other researchers expect to see the biggest effects of El Niño in February, March, and April 2024. El Niño is related to the weakening of easterly trade winds and the movement of warm water from the western Pacific toward the western coast of the Americas. The phenomenon can have widespread results, frequently bringing cooler, wetter conditions to the U.S. Southwest and drought to countries in the western Pacific, such as Indonesia and Australia.
” Unfortunately, environment change is happening. Things that we said would come to pass are occurring,” said Gavin Schmidt, environment researcher and director of GISS. “And it will get worse if we continue to give off carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into our environment.”
NASAs full temperature level data set and the complete approach used for the temperature computation and its uncertainties are readily available online.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, based on data from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The map at the top of this post portrays worldwide temperature abnormalities for June, July, and August 2023.” Summer 2023s record-setting temperatures arent just a set of numbers– they result in dire real-world consequences. From sweltering temperature levels in Arizona and across the nation, to wildfires throughout Canada, and extreme flooding in Europe and Asia, extreme weather is threatening lives and livelihoods around the world,” stated NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The impacts of environment change are a threat to our planet and future generations, threats that NASA and the Biden-Harris Administration are taking on head-on.”
The environment can also hold more water now, and when its humid and hot, its even harder for the human body to control its temperature level.”
