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Key Points
- New data shows that the northern hemisphere’s 2023 summer was the warmest on record globally by a large margin.
- Such anomalous temperatures put 2023 overall just 0.01 degrees below 2016 for the warmest year on record.
- The impacts have led to global heatwaves, fires, and floods, with expects worried the trend could accelerate.
“Global temperature records continue to tumble in 2023,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S. “The scientific evidence is overwhelming – we will continue to see more climate records and more intense and frequent extreme weather events impacting society and ecosystems, until we stop emitting greenhouse gases.”
Earth recorded its hottest European summer on record in 2023
Using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft, and weather stations around the world, C3S concluded that the months of June, July, and August in 2023 were, by a large margin, the warmest on record globally.
Such anomalous temperatures put 2023 just 0.01 degrees below 2016 for the warmest year on record.
What do these high temperatures mean?
“Scientists have long warned what our fossil fuel addiction will unleash. Our climate is imploding faster than we can cope with, with extreme weather events hitting every corner of the planet.”
The world’s hottest day was on 7 July, with a global average of 17.23C, and the month overall was warmer than any other July in Earth’s recorded history.
August, meanwhile, is estimated to have been around 1.5C warmer than the preindustrial average for 1850 to 1900 – that is, the threshold below which the world’s nations are trying to keep global heating. If this temperature excess is sustained over months and years, then such climate ambitions will have failed.
What does this mean?
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A March 2023 study found that the early signs and symptoms of heatstroke can affect the nervous, digestive, and cardiovascular systems, and noted that extreme heat could lead to multiple organ dysfunction and failure, and death. Experts in the US have warned that 2023’s heatwaves could result in a record number of heat-related deaths this year.
Antarctic sea ice extent, which refers to the amount of frozen ocean around Antarctica and is extremely variable from season to season and year to year, remained at a record low for the June-July-August period.
The deficit, which measured 12 per cent below the monthly average, was by far the largest negative anomaly for August since satellite observations began.
What do low levels of Antarctic sea ice mean?
Experts are worried that if the sea ice continues to deteriorate faster than it recovers, it may reach a point of no return and accelerate the warming of the planet even more.
Global average sea surface temperatures have been unusually high since April 2023, and continued to rise in August, reaching the highest level on record across all months at 20.98 degrees Celsius.
Every day from 31 July to 31 August global average sea surface temperatures were above the previous record from March 2016, and almost every day since 5 August the North Atlantic sea surface temperature has been above the previous record.
What do higher ocean temperatures mean?
“I think we are definitely going to see a lot of extremes in the upcoming years simply because the system is more powerful,” CSIRO honorary fellow Dr Wenju Cai, who specialises in global climate variability and change, told the ABC last month. “There is a great deal of energy in that ocean warming, and it could power so much more extreme events.”
