Washington: The US space agency has confirmed that July was the hottest month on record ever since 1880, as heatwaves and wildfires hit the cities in the US and Europe.
NASA experts gathered on Monday (August 14) to discuss the state of Earth’s climate emergency, in the wake of Hawaii's tragic wildfires, responsible for the deaths of more than 90 people and counting.
According to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, July 2023 was hotter than any other month in the global temperature record.
Overall, July 2023 was 0.24 degrees Celsius warmer than any other July in NASA's record, and it was 1.18 degrees Celsius warmer than the average July between 1951 and 1980.
High sea surface temperatures contributed to July's record warmth. NASA's analysis shows especially warm ocean temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific, evidence of the El Nino that began developing in May 2023.
"Long-term trends we've been seeing since the 19th century, particularly since the 1970s, are all due to anthropogenic effects," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The term "anthropogenic" in this case simply refers to human-driven activity such as burning coal for power, cutting down trees to build infrastructure and fostering air pollution.
Schmidt explained that NASA's data clearly shows other climate change factors such as El Niño events, which are natural weather patterns that lead to warming ocean surfaces, and volcanic activity create "very, very small" impacts on global warming when compared to these anthropogenic components.
El Niño, for instance, can lead to a temporary temperature increase of about 0.1 degrees Celsius,
"Without those human contributions to the drivers of climate change, we would not be seeing anything like the temperatures that we're seeing right now," Schmidt said.
"NASA data confirms what billions around the world literally felt: temperatures in July 2023 made it the hottest month on record. In every corner of the country, Americans are right now experiencing firsthand the effects of the climate crisis, underscoring the urgency of President Biden's historic climate agenda," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement late on Monday.
"The science is clear. We must act now to protect our communities and planet; it’s the only one we have."
Parts of South America, North Africa, North America, and the Antarctic Peninsula were especially hot, experiencing temperatures increases around 4 degrees Celsius above average.
Overall, extreme heat this summer put tens of millions of people under heat warnings and was linked to hundreds of heat-related illnesses and deaths.
The record-breaking July continues a long-term trend of human-driven warming driven primarily by greenhouse gas emissions that has become evident over the past four decades.
According to NASA data, the five hottest Julys since 1880 have all happened in the past five years.
"Climate change is impacting people and ecosystems around the world, and we expect many of these impacts to escalate with continued warming," said Katherine Calvin, chief scientist and senior climate advisor at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.
This July was not just warmer than any previous July -- it was the warmest month in our record, which goes back to 1880, added Schmidt.
Monday's discussion also touched upon the effects climate change is having on marine health. "The oceans are experiencing about 90% of global warming," Carlos Del Castillo, Ocean Ecology Laboratory chief at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said during the conference. "As the oceans heat, the water expands. When you combine that with the melting of ice overland, that contributes to increases in sea level rise."
Consequences of such sea level rise — which is accelerating as the years go by — include coastal flooding and even coastal erosion.