This stark discovery came in one of two new studies published yesterday, Tuesday, in light of the continued rise in global temperatures and the emission of greenhouse gases.
Scientists were quick to announce that the period from June to August of last year was the hottest period since temperatures began to be recorded in the 1940s, according to Reuters.
A new study, published in the scientific journal Nature, indicates that the year 2023 will be hotter than temperatures over a much longer period of time, a discovery that was proven by looking at meteorological records dating back to the mid-19th century and temperature data according to analysis of tree rings. From 9 locations in the northern hemisphere.
“When you look at the long history, you can see how tragic modern global warming is,” said Jan Esper, a co-author of the study and a climate scientist at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany, according to Reuters.
The study stated that summer temperatures last year in the lands located between 30 and 90 degrees north latitude were 2.07 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial averages.
According to tree ring data, the summer months of 2023 were 2.2 degrees Celsius hotter on average above the estimated average temperature across years from Gregorian calendar year 1 to 1890.
The result was not entirely surprising. By January, scientists at the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said 2023 was “very likely” to be the hottest in about 100,000 years.
But researcher Esper said proving such a long record is unlikely.
He and two other European scientists argued in a paper last year that year-to-year comparisons could not be made on such a broad time scale with current scientific methods, including collecting temperature data from sources such as marine sediments or peat bogs.
“We don't have that kind of data, it's an exaggeration,” Esper said.
Esper added that the extreme heat in the summer of last year was exacerbated by the El Niño climate phenomenon that usually coincides with warmer global temperatures, which led to “longer and more intense heat waves and long periods of drought.”
