Geneva (EFE).- The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which functions as the scientific arm of the UN, confirmed today that two consecutive temperature records were broken last week, making it the hottest weekly period since that there are records.
According to the reanalysis of data from the Japan Meteorological Agency, the global average temperature on July 7 was 17.25 degrees Celsius, 0.3 degrees above the previous record of 16.94 degrees on August 16, 2016. when the world was experiencing an El Niño phenomenon, which scientists declared again a few days ago.
Two consecutive temperature records
Three days earlier -on July 4- the 2026 record had already been broken.
In monthly terms, the WMO in collaboration with the European Copernicus system has established that the average temperature in June was 0.5 degrees Celcius higher than the 1991-2020 average, thus breaking the June 2019 record.
In the same line of global warming, the agency reported that the Antarctic ice sheet was reduced to its minimum extent in June, when it was 17% less than its average size, according to satellite observations.
“It was observed that the ice sheet in Antarctica -where the temperature is lower than in the Arctic- remained stable until 2016, when it began to reduce, with some zig-zag periods, but this year we have noticed a strong reduction ”, said the head of Climate Watch at WMO, Omar Baddour, at a press conference in Geneva.
In June the Antarctic sea ice “remained at unprecedentedly low levels
Throughout June, the Antarctic sea ice “remained at unprecedentedly low levels for values at this time of year,” said Baddour, who said that it is still early to relate this situation – from the point of view of science – with climate change.
Scientists are also concerned about the rise in temperatures in the North Atlantic, which was very high in June and, for example, was 5 degrees higher than the average for that month around the United Kingdom, which has an impact negative on fish populations.
WMO climate physicist Michael Sparrow explained that the oceans have a greater capacity to store heat than the atmosphere, but when they overheat they can increase the temperature in the atmosphere and cause extreme weather events.
“We are trying to understand why the North Atlantic is warming up,” added the scientist, who added that this is happening at an extreme speed and that for the moment this anomaly cannot be attributed to the El Niño phenomenon, since in previous episodes this it didn’t happen.
Baddour maintained that, in any case, El Niño is meeting all the criteria for new records to be broken in 2024, until when the phenomenon will continue with its impact load on the increase in the temperature of the Tropical Pacific and, consequently, on the atmosphere.