Record-Breaking Heat: Earth Endures Hottest Day in Eight Decades 

By Aayushi Sharma

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported that on July 21, the Earth experienced its hottest day in at least 84 years, with the global average temperature soaring to a record-breaking 17.09 degrees Celsius.

This comes after a series of unprecedented temperature records, with June being the 12th consecutive month of global temperatures hitting or surpassing the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark. Each month since June of the previous year has been the warmest ever recorded.

Before July 2023, the record for Earth’s daily average temperature was 16.8 degrees Celsius, set in August 2016. However, since July 3, 2023, there have been 57 days with temperatures surpassing that previous record. Copernicus records date back to 1940, but additional global measurements by the United States and United Kingdom governments extend back to 1880. Many scientists, considering these data along with tree rings and ice cores, assert that last year’s record highs were the hottest the planet has been in approximately 120,000 years. Now, the first six months of 2024 have surpassed even those records.

Carlo Buontempo, Director of C3S, highlighted the significant difference between recent temperatures and previous records, stating, “We are now in truly uncharted territory, and as the climate continues to warm, we are bound to see new records in the coming months and years.”

Analysis indicates that 2023 and 2024 have experienced substantially higher annual maximum daily global temperatures compared to previous years. The 10 years with the highest daily average temperatures are now from 2015 to 2024.

The global average temperature generally peaks between late June and early August, driven by the summer in the northern hemisphere. During this time, the northern hemisphere’s land masses heat up more quickly than the southern hemisphere’s oceans can cool down. With global temperatures already near record levels, a new daily average temperature record was not entirely unexpected. 

Scientists from C3S attributed the recent spike in daily global temperatures to significantly higher-than-average temperatures over large parts of Antarctica. These substantial anomalies, which are not uncommon during the Antarctic winter, also contributed to record global temperatures in early July 2023. The extent of Antarctic sea ice is nearly as low as it was last year, leading to above-average temperatures over parts of the Southern Ocean. As the global average temperature typically peaks between late June and early August, scientists predict it will rise and reach its peak around July 22 or 23, 2024, before beginning to decrease.

References:

https://theprint.in/india/july-21-was-worlds-hottest-day-in-at-least-84-years-european-climate-agency/2188471

https://indianexpress.com/article/world/july-21-earth-hottest-day-european-climate-agency-9472120

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