Climate change is advancing: NASA and the European Union confirm that 2024 has been the hottest year in history

Climate watchers have offered temperature measurements for the entire planet in 2024, and they all agree: 2024 has been the hottest year since records beganfrom the 19th century. We have already exceeded pre-industrial records by 1.5 °C, which should not have been reached until 2050.

According to the program Copernicus of the European Union, a network of climate satellites that record temperatures across the planet, In 2024, 15.1 °C on average will be reached across the planetincluding the Poles. It is the absolute record, surpassing the 2023 record by 0.12 °C. A figure that has been increasing for 10 years in a row.

This represents a temperature of 0.72 °C above the average since 1991, and 1.6 °C above pre-industrial levels.

Record temperature in 2024

The problem is much more serious in Europewhere temperatures rise twice as fast as on other continents. While the world’s average temperature since 1991 has risen 0.72 °C, in Europe it shoots up to 1.47 °C.

The NASA data changes slightly, because they are based on the temperature since 1951, and not since 1991, which is why the average rises even more. In 2024, the planet will be 1.28 °C warmer than the average of the last centuryalso an absolute record.

NASA obtains its data through thousands of weather stations around the world, as well as ships and buoys that measure sea temperatures.

According to NASA, The last 15 months have broken the absolute temperature record for that monthconfirming that heat accumulates year after year.

According to Berkeley Earth, 104 countries they beat its absolute temperature record in 2024, affecting 3.3 billion people.

I could continue giving data, but they all point in the same direction: Global warming continues unstoppable, year after year. You can read the full Copernicus report at this link.

According to the experts who have prepared these reports, the brutal increase in temperatures, much faster than the worst forecasts expected, is due to two causes.

The most important one is pollutionwhich generates greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide. In 2024 emissions into the atmosphere have increased compared to 2023. The historic eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano also contributed to this.

The second cause is the El Niño phenomenon of 2023which warmed the Pacific Ocean. Added to this were the unusually high temperatures of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The heat from the sea takes months to reach the atmosphere, which is why it still affected us in 2024.

Reducing pollution, the key factor

The heat given off by the sea forms clouds that keep the heat in the atmosphere, in addition to rain that can cause unusually strong floods, as has happened with the recent Dana from Valencia. These types of phenomena will multiply in the coming years, if temperatures continue to increase.

Although the fateful 1.5 °C above the average, foreseen by the Paris agreements for 2050, has been reached, the key is not to reach them, but to check if they are maintained. That means that We must continue fighting to reduce pollution and prevent the increase from being irreversible.

For the tenth consecutive year, 2024 has been the hottest year since records beganalmost two centuries ago. Everything indicates that 2025 will continue along the same lines.

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Tags: Health, Viral, Climate, Environment