March is the 10th straight month to be the warmest on record, scientists say

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WASHINGTON (AP) — For the 10th consecutive month, Earth set a new monthly heat record in March, with air and ocean temperatures reaching an all-time high for this month, the European Union’s Copernicus program reported.

The month of March 2024 averaged 14.14 degrees Celsius (57.9 degrees Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record from 2016 by a tenth of a degree, according to Copernicus data. And it was 3°F (1.68°C) warmer than the late 19th century, the baseline used for temperatures before the burning of fossil fuels began to rapidly increase.

Since last June, the planet has broken heat records every month, contributed to by marine heat waves in large areas of the oceans.

Scientists say the record heat during this time was not entirely surprising because of a strong El Niño, a climate phenomenon that warms the central Pacific Ocean and changes global weather patterns.

“But this combination with unnatural marine heat waves made these records so impressive,” said Jennifer Francis, a scientist at the Woodwell Center for Climate Research.

Now that El Niño is waning, the margins by which average global temperatures are exceeded each month should decrease, he added.

Climatologists attribute most of the record heat to human-caused climate change resulting from emissions of carbon dioxide and methane generated by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.

“The trajectory will not change until concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop increasing,” Francis said, “which means we must stop burning fossil fuels, stop deforestation and grow our food more sustainably as soon as possible. as quickly as possible.”

Until then, expect more records to be broken, he said.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world set a goal to keep warming at or below 1.5°C (2.7°F) compared to pre-industrial times. The Copernicus temperature data is monthly and uses a slightly different measurement system than the Paris threshold, which is averaged over two or three decades.

Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, said March’s record-breaking temperature was not as exceptional as other months last year that surpassed record highs by wider margins.

“We have had record-breaking months that have been even more unusual,” Burgess said, referring to February 2024 and September 2023. But the “path is not going in the right direction.”

The planet has experienced 12 months with average monthly temperatures 1.58ºC (2.8ºF) above the threshold set in Paris, according to Copernicus data.

In March, global sea surface temperature averaged 21.07°C (69.93°F), the highest monthly value on record and slightly higher than what was recorded in February.

“We need more ambitious global action to ensure we can reach net zero as quickly as possible,” Burgess said.

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