Evidence of global warming is intensifying rapidly. After the hottest June-July-August period, new data supports this same process. Last September 2023 has been the warmest September recorded worldwide since there are records, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Commission in its latest monthly bulletin. The average surface air temperature in September was 16.38°C; that is, 0.93°C above the 1991-2020 September average. This is also half a degree above the temperature measured in the previous warmest September, 2020.
Global temperatures soared to record levels in September by a huge margin. The warmest September on record follows the warmest August and the warmest July, to the point that the latter has been the hottest month ever recorded in absolute terms. High temperatures have caused heat waves and forest fires around the world.
The global temperature of September 2023 has made it the hottest month in the data set managed by Copernicus (since 1940).
The thermometer marked around 1.75°C above the September average for the pre-industrial reference period 1850-1900.
Meanwhile, the global temperature so far this year, that is, in the period from January to September, was 0.52°C higher than the average and 0.05°C higher than the equivalent period of the warmest year on record. until now, that of 2016).
That is, if we continue at this rate, 2023 is on track to be the hottest year recorded on the planet.
Specifically, from January to September 2023, the global average temperature exceeds the average of the pre-industrial average era (1850-1900) by 1.40 °C.
“The unprecedented temperatures for the time of year observed in September, following a record summer, have broken records in an extraordinary way,” says Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus climate change service (C3S).
In addition, this extreme month is pushing the year 2023 to have the dubious honor of occupying first place in the ranking, since “it is on track to be the warmest year, around 1.4°C above average temperatures “With two months until COP28, the sense of urgency for ambitious climate action has never been more critical,” says this expert.
For Europe, September 2023 was also the warmest September on record, 2.51°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average, and 1.1°C warmer than 2020, the previous warmest September.
The average sea surface temperature in September between 60°S and 60°N reached 20.92°C; It has been the highest recorded in September and the second highest of all months, behind August 2023.
All of this occurs while El Niño conditions (a warming process that is activated in the equatorial Pacific but with impacts on a large part of the planet) continued to develop in this area.
This bulletin includes many other tests of warming. Thus, the extent of sea ice surrounding Antarctica remained at its lowest level since these measurements were made. This is the time when the highest levels of sea ice are reached in the southern winter, but its decline has been evident when compared to previous years. Both daily and monthly extents reached their lowest annual maximum extents measured so far. In September the monthly extension was 9% below the average.
For its part, the ice surface area in the Arctic reached its sixth lowest annual minimum – measurements have been made since 1979 –, 18% below the average.
