FEBRUARY MARKS THE WARMEST ON RECORD FOR THE OCEANS

Thu 07 March 2024:

Last month’s ocean temperatures reached a record high and it was also the warmest February on record worldwide, according to scientists in the European Union.

In February, the average worldwide sea surface temperature was 21.06 degrees Celsius (69.91 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking the previous high of 20.98C (69.77F) set in August 2023 in a dataset dating back to 1979, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the average air temperature in February was 13.54C (56.4F), 1.77C (3.18F) warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month. It marked the ninth consecutive month that was the warmest on record for the respective month of the year.

Earlier, January had also been recorded as the warmest first month of the year, surpassing the previous warmest January in 2020, as per C3S’s records going back to 1950.

Last month, after scientists warned of the hottest January on record as the world continued a run of exceptional heat fuelled by climate change, C3S Deputy Director Samantha Burgess said, “Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing.”

February 2024 was the warmest February on record according to @CopernicusECMWF
⁰1.77°C warmer than pre-industrial
⁰9th record breaking month in a row⁰ ⁰Global temperatures for the past 12 months are the highest on record, at 1.56°C above pre-industrial
⁰#ClimateAction pic.twitter.com/bYrcm7nKky

— Dr Sam Burgess 🌍🌡🛰 (@OceanTerra) March 7, 2024

The C3S scientists said while the El Nino climate pattern continued to weaken in the equatorial Pacific in February, marine air temperatures remained at an unusually high level.

The polar oceans are not included in the global average sea surface temperature data, but conditions are still catastrophic there as well.

In February, Antarctic sea ice hit its yearly minimum extent, which was 28% below average and became the third-lowest extent ever recorded.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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