According to the EU's climate change service Copernicus, last year it remained slightly below the 1.5 degree threshold. The global temperature was 1.48 degrees higher than the average from the years 1850 to 1900, as announced by Copernicus in the “Global Climate Highlights 2023” report. “Temperatures in 2023 are likely to be higher than they have been in the last 100,000 years,” said Samantha Burgess, MP. Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
Copernicus had already announced in December that the year was the hottest since records began in 1850. It can be assumed that a twelve-month period will be above the 1.5 degree limit in January or February, it has now been said. Experts believe it is entirely possible that 2024 will be even hotter and that the entire year could exceed the 1.5 degree threshold for the first time. However, this does not mean that the 1.5 degree Paris target has not been achieved, as long-term average values are being analyzed.
According to Copernicus, the global average temperature in 2023 was 14.98 degrees Celsius, 0.17 degrees above the previous record year of 2016. Last year, for the first time, every day of the year was at least one degree above of pre-industrial levels, on two days in November it was even more than two degrees. From June to December, every month was warmer than the record values previously recorded for the respective month. Europe experienced the second hottest year on record.
High sea surface temperatures
“One of the main causes of the unusual air temperatures in 2023 was unprecedented ocean surface temperatures,” says Copernicus. The main reason for warm seas is the continuous increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Another factor is the recurring climate phenomenon El Niño, which began last year. It warms the Pacific every few years. Overall, global sea surface temperatures from April to December reached record values for this period.
“The extreme events we have observed in recent months are a dramatic testament to how far we have moved from the climate in which our civilization once thrived,” said C3S director Carlo Buontempo. He called for the decarbonization of the economy to be boosted.
The European Union's climate change service, Copernicus, regularly publishes data on surface temperatures, sea ice cover and precipitation. The findings are based on computer-generated analyzes that incorporate billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.