The global temperature is two degrees higher than in pre-industrial times Sciences

November 21, 2023, 10:46 am

| Reading time: 2 minutes

For the first time since records began, the global average daily temperature has exceeded pre-industrial levels by more than 2 degrees. The European Union’s climate change service Copernicus confirmed on Tuesday, upon request, that according to preliminary data, the temperature on November 17 exceeded the average for the period from 1850 to 1900 for that day by 2.06 degrees.

Compared to the period from 1991 to 2020, today’s temperature was 1.17 degrees higher. At the same time, Copernicus stressed: “It is important to make clear that this does not represent a violation of the Paris Agreement, but rather confirms our proximity to the internationally agreed limit values.”

The ideal limit is 1.5 degrees

At the 2015 World Climate Conference in Paris, countries around the world agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, and even to 1.5 degrees if possible. It is about long-term values ​​and not individual days, months or years. The background to the decision is the deadly consequences of global warming such as frequent and intense storms, droughts, floods and wildfires. The past few months have brought a series of record temperatures, and experts believe 2023 is likely to be the warmest year since records began. According to Copernicus, as of the end of October the average temperature was 1.43 degrees higher than the pre-industrial average.

Copernicus, based in Reading, England, said the value recorded on November 17 was the largest deviation so far from the estimated single-day average in the pre-industrial period – and not the absolute highest temperature. “The record for warmest day (and month) remains in July this year, where much higher temperatures were observed in the northern summer.” At the same time, she said, while we are committed to the 1.5 degree limit set in the Paris Agreement, “we expect temperature anomalies exceeding 1.5 and 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels to become increasingly common in the coming months and years.”

“Global temperature records are being broken with alarming regularity,” said Carlo Bontempo, director of the Copernicus Center at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The limit values ​​of 1.5 and 2 degrees were to be exceeded. About a week and a half before the start of the COP 28 global climate conference in Dubai, Bontempo said that it was expected due to global warming, but nevertheless, there are frightening effects.