July 2023 was the hottest month on record in terms of global temperatures, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

“From day one, President Biden saw the climate crisis as the existential threat of our time,” said Ali Zaidi, the White House’s national climate adviser. In a climate of record high temperatures, wildfires and flooding, NASA’s analysis puts the urgency of President Biden’s unprecedented climate leadership into context. From securing the Deflation Act, the largest climate investment in history, to using the Defense Production Act to boost domestic clean energy production, to strengthening climate resilience in communities across the country, President Biden is delivering on the most ambitious climate agenda in history. ”

Overall, July 2023 was 0.43 degrees Fahrenheit (F) (0.24 degrees Celsius (C)) warmer than other NASA-reported July dates, and was 2.1 F (1.18 C) warmer than the July average between 1951 and 1980. it was hotter. The primary focus of GISS analysis is long-term temperature changes over decades and centuries, and a fixed base period yields anomalies that are consistent over time. Temperature “norms” are set for several decades or more – usually 30 years.

“Data from NASA confirms what literally billions of people around the world are feeling: The temperatures in July 2023 made it the hottest month on record. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “At every corner of the country, Americans are now experiencing the effects of the climate crisis firsthand and This underlines the urgency of President Biden’s historic climate agenda,” he said. “The science is clear. We must act now to protect our communities and the planet; it’s all we have.’

South America, North Africa, North America and parts of the Antarctic Peninsula were particularly hot, with temperatures rising about 4°C above average. Overall, the intense heat of this summer has placed tens of millions of people on heat warnings, linking hundreds of heat-related illnesses and deaths. The record-breaking July continues a long-term human-caused warming trend that has been evident for the past four decades, mainly due to greenhouse gas emissions. According to NASA, the five hottest Julys since 1880 have occurred in the past five years.

“Climate change is affecting people and ecosystems around the world, and we expect many of these impacts to increase as warming continues,” said Kathryn Calvin, chief scientist and senior climate advisor at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our agency monitors climate change, its impacts and drivers such as greenhouse gases, and we provide this information to help people plan for the future.”

NASA compiles temperature records from surface air temperature data from tens of thousands of weather stations, as well as sea surface temperature data from instruments aboard ships and buoys. These raw data are analyzed using methods that take into account the varying distances between temperature stations around the world and the effects of urban heat, which can skew calculations.

“This July wasn’t just warmer than previous July – it was the warmest month in our history going back to 1880,” said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt. “Science is clear that this is not normal. Worrying global warming is mainly due to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. And this rise in average temperatures is causing the dangerous extreme heat that people live here, in their homes, and around the world.”

The high temperature of the sea surface contributed to the record temperature in July. NASA’s analysis shows particularly warm ocean temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific, indicating an El Niño that began to develop in May 2023. Events such as El Niño or La Niña, which warm or cool the tropical Pacific Ocean, can contribute to a small amount of year-to-year variability in global temperatures. However, these contributions are not usually felt during the Northern Hemisphere summer when El Niño begins to develop. NASA expects the biggest impact of El Niño to occur in February, March and April 2024. Source