Climate
Oceans recorded their warmest May on record
Data has been collected for more than 70 years, and during this time such temperatures have not been observed in the waters of the planet.
Published
The water is already at very high temperatures when El Nino raises the thermometer again.
Getty Images/iStockPhoto
“Ocean surface temperatures are already at their maximum and our data indicate that the average temperature of all ice-free oceans in May 2023 was higher than in any other May,” said Samantha Burgess, director of Copernicus (C3S), the European Service on Climate Change. )
The latter is based on computer analysis generated from billions of measurements from satellites and ships, aircraft or weather stations around the world. Some of the data used by Copernicus date back to 1950.
Waiting for El Nino
In terms of temperatures worldwide, May was the second warmest month on record. “May 2023 was the second warmest globally as the El Niño signal continued to emerge in the equatorial Pacific,” said Samantha Burgess. El Niño is a natural weather phenomenon usually associated with increased temperatures, increased drought in some parts of the world, and increased rainfall in others.
It last occurred in 2018-2019 and led to a nearly three-year long episode of La Niña, which causes the opposite effects and especially a drop in temperatures. In early May, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) estimated a 60% chance of El Niño forming by the end of July and 80% by the end of September.
Spain had a hot spring
The 2023 meteorological spring, which runs from March 1 to May 31, was the warmest recorded in Spain since climate statistics began in the country, the National Meteorological Agency (Amet) said on Wednesday.
The season, marked by an exceptionally early heat wave in late April, was the second driest season on record, Amett said in a statement.
(AFP)
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