April 11, 2024
Here’s a double-whammy of terrifying news.
This past March was the hottest-ever March on record, and was the 10th month in a row that an all-time record was set for monthly temperatures.
Meanwhile, the ocean has set daily temperature records every day for over a year, often by wide margins.
So far, climate change has raised the global average temperature by about 1.2 degrees Celsius, or 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit, above the preindustrial average temperature. And because it takes more energy to heat up water than air, the oceans have absorbed the vast majority of the planet’s warming from greenhouse gases. Says Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist and the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the “massive, massive records” set over the past year are beyond what scientists would expect to see even considering climate change. Adds University of Vermont professor Gillian Galford, “we are going toward uncharted territory,” and she expects we may be heading for a particularly vicious Atlantic hurricane season.
One grave concern is that climate change may lead to an irreversible “tipping point” which could include the permanent collapse of the Atlantic ocean currents, which are what keep Europe relatively warm despite its northerly location.