Sea temperature breaks historic record in February – 03/07/2024 – Environment

Ocean surface temperatures in February around the world were the highest ever recorded in history. The average for the month reached 21.06°C, breaking the previous record, from August 2023, when the index was 20.98°C.

Considering the air temperature, this was also the hottest February on record. The average was 13.54°C, exceeding the temperature of the hottest February so far, in 2016, by 0.12°C. Since June last year, every month has broken heat records for that respective month.

The data was released in the early hours of this Thursday (7) by the European climate observatory Copernicus.

On the 29th, the absolute daily sea temperature record was also surpassed, reaching 21.09°C. In the analysis of global sea surface temperatures, Copernicus does not include polar regions, following the standard adopted in climate monitoring.

“The oceans are warm due to high concentrations of greenhouse gases associated with human emissions”, explains climatologist Alexandre Costa, professor at UECE (State University of Ceará). “Basically, 93% of the excess heat associated with global warming is stored in the oceans. And, from ocean currents, part of this heat is redistributed, delivered to the atmosphere.”

Even with El Niño cooling in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, sea surface temperatures remained at an unusually high level, especially for this time of year.

The researcher points out that, normally, the oceans have two heat peaks a year: between March and April, and in August.

“So we broke the global temperature record in February, but most likely that record can be broken [novamente] in March and even in April. We haven’t reached the maximum temperature this year for the oceans yet,” she says.

He states that El Niño contributes to the high rates, as it is characterized by the emergence of heat from the deepest layers of the seas to the surface, but it is not the main factor in ocean warming. “This issue is related to global warming. Such high temperatures in February are not normal.”

Copernicus has daily global temperature records dating back to 1940. The monthly bulletins generated by the observatory use billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations to analyze the state of the global climate.

As for air temperature, last month was 1.77°C warmer than an estimate of the February average from 1850 to 1900. This period is used as a reference to temperatures before the Industrial Revolution, which caused gas emissions to soar. greenhouse effect generated by human activities.

February’s indices were driven by the first half of the month, when the daily global average temperature was exceptionally high. On four consecutive days (from the 8th to the 11th), the rate was 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Considering the last 12 months (March 2023 to February 2024), the global average temperature was the highest ever recorded.

“February joins the long streak of records in recent months,” Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement, adding that the fact is not surprising.

“[Isso porque] continued warming of the climate system inevitably leads to new temperature extremes. The climate responds to actual greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, so unless we can stabilize them, we will inevitably face new global temperature records and their consequences,” he said.

Costa, from UECE, explains that greenhouse gases trap heat and prevent it from dissipating into space, warming the planet and, consequently, the oceans.

“This energy accumulated in the Earth’s climate system is redistributed,” he says. Thus, heat is transported to the poles, accelerating melting, causing coral bleaching, impacting marine biodiversity, and also resulting in more intense climatic events.

“This excessive heat in the oceans implies that they are a more intense source of water vapor evaporation. More water vapor in the atmosphere means you have more raw material to produce intense rainfall. So very warm oceans intensify extreme events of precipitation”, he states.

“Another aspect is that very warm oceans contribute to the formation of hurricanes, typhoons, tropical cyclones in general, which are quite intense. Because they are a heat redistribution mechanism in the climate system, they function like a heat engine.”

The year 2023 — which broke all records and was the hottest in 125,000 years — was marked by extreme weather events, such as the historic drought that hit the Amazon, the gigantic forest fires in Canada and the floods in China.