:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/ILEOG5SLHUY2OYLFLQLCMCONR4.jpg "March was the hottest month ever recorded in the world")
March 2024 has been declared the hottest month ever recorded in the world, according to the European climate observatory. This marks the tenth consecutive month to break heat records, with maximum temperatures also being recorded in the oceans. The Copernicus observatory, funded by the European Union, issued a new alarm signal after a year marked by extreme weather events and increased greenhouse gas emissions, sparking renewed calls for faster action against global warming.
The average temperature in March 2024 was 1.68 °C higher than a typical March during the pre-industrial period of 1850-1900. This has been the hottest 12-month period in history, with temperatures measuring 1.58ºC above pre-industrial averages.
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), stated that the overall trend is most alarming. Large areas of the planet experienced above-average temperatures in March, from Africa to Greenland, South America, and Antarctica. The oceans also set new surface temperature records, reaching highs of 21.07 ºC in March, with the exception of areas near the poles.
The increasing temperatures pose a threat to marine life and result in more moisture in the atmosphere, leading to unstable weather conditions such as heat waves, droughts, floods, and forest fires. The scientist warned that as the global atmosphere warms, extreme events will become more numerous, severe, and intense.
The El Niño phenomenon, which warms the sea surface in the Pacific Ocean, continued to weaken in March, but it alone does not explain the drastic spikes in temperatures recorded. Scientific studies have not yet determined the exact influence of climate change on each event, but it has been established that global warming intensifies certain precipitation episodes.
Looking ahead, forecasts predict above-average temperatures in the coming months, raising concerns about whether further records will be broken. Burgess warned that if the current trend of high ocean surface temperatures continues, it is very likely that more records will be broken.
The unprecedented heat levels recorded in 2023 were within the range predicted by climate models, but they were at the outer limit, far from the average. This raises concerns among climatologists about the severity of the situation and the need for immediate action against global warming.