The year 2023 is on track to become the hottest in history, scientists warned this Thursday (5). The forecast came from a report from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which also pointed to a record temperature for the month of September.
According to the researchers, the global temperature between January and September 2023 was 0.52º C above average. During this period, thermometers also exceeded the average observed in the first nine months of 2016, which held the previous record, by 0.05ºC.
To date, the 2023 global average temperature is 1.40°C higher than the pre-industrial average between 1850 and 1900.
“The sense of urgency for ambitious climate action has never been more critical,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S, highlighting that the report’s release comes just two months before the UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai.
According to scientists, climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is making weather extreme, with heat waves and storms more intense and more frequent.
What does the report say about the month of September?
According to the report, September 2023 was the hottest September on record. The average surface air temperature reached 16.38ºC – 0.93ºC above the monthly average between 1991-2020.
The numbers released by C3S alarmed scientists around the world, such as Zeke Hausfather, from the Berkeley Earth climate data project.
“In my professional opinion as a climate scientist, September was completely insane,” wrote the researcher on platform X (formerly Twitter).
Mika Rantanen, a climate researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, also expressed bewilderment: “I’m still struggling to understand how a single year can make such a big leap compared to previous years.”
Last month also saw an average temperature 0.5°C warmer than the hottest September so far in 2020. In 2023, the ninth month of the year was about 1.75°C warmer than the average September from the pre-industrial period, used as a reference.
“The unprecedented temperatures for the time of year seen in September – following a record-breaking summer – were extraordinary record-breakers,” Burgess said.
Describing the month as “extreme”, the researcher credited it with pushing 2023 into the “dubious honor of first place – on track to be the hottest year [da história] and about 1.4°C above pre-industrial average temperatures.”
Wetter than average September
In Europe, September was not only the hottest on record, but also a month with “wetter than average” conditions in many parts of the continent’s west coast, according to the report.
As an example, the document cited the extreme rains in Greece, associated with Storm Daniel. The weather phenomenon also caused devastating floods in Libya, killing thousands of people and largely destroying the city of Derna in the east of the country.
Other areas affected by the rain in Europe include western Iberia, Ireland, the north of the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. In addition to Europe, some Latin American countries, such as Brazil and Chile, also suffered from what the report called “extreme precipitation events” in their respective southern regions.
Funded by the EU, C3S is implemented by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission.
For its findings, the service says it relies on computer-generated analysis, measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.
Pope Francis warns of “breaking point”
On Wednesday, Pope Francis had already launched an appeal to humanity: “As time passes, I realize that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be close to breaking point “, wrote Francis in an update to his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si (Praise be to you).
baptized by Praise God (Praise be to God), the new 13-page appeal was released during the synod of bishops and laypeople from around the world taking place over the next few weeks at the Vatican to discuss issues fundamental to the future of the church, including its role in protecting the environment. .