July 2021 was the hottest month on Earth, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).
These conclusions come at the same time as the alarming report of the IPCC on the state of the planet and the extreme climatic events which are already ravaging certain countries.
July 2021 was the hottest month on Earth on record, an American science agency said on Friday, citing a "worrying trajectory" for the planet under the onslaught of climate change. This "first place is the worst," US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) chief Rick Spinrad said in a statement. "July is usually the hottest month of the year, but July 2021 has surpassed itself, becoming July and the hottest month on record." "This new record accentuates the worrying and disturbing trajectory on which climate change has put the globe," he added,while fierce fires and other extreme weather events are currently hitting parts of the world, from Siberia to Algeria, from Turkey to California.
The temperature recorded on the surface of the continents was "unprecedented"
The global surface temperature of the planet was 0.01 ° C warmer compared to the previous warmest month of July, in 2016 (which was then tied with the months of 2019 and 2020), according to the American agency.
And it was 0.93 ° C above the 20th century average temperature.
In the northern hemisphere in particular, the temperature recorded on the surface of the continents (therefore excluding the oceans) was "unprecedented", 1.54 ° C above average, surpassing the previous record of 2012. Surveys began 142 years ago, NOAA said.
The European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) for its part estimated last week that July 2021 was the third hottest month of July on Earth.
It is common for agencies to have small differences in their data.
"NOAA has more limited coverage over the Arctic," which may explain this difference, Zeke Hausfather, climatologist at the Breakthrough Institute and specialist in temperature records, told AFP.
"But regardless of where exactly (the month of July) ranks, the warming seen around the world this summer is a clear consequence of climate change."
Concrete illustrations of climate change this summer
The announcement of this record comes just days after the publication of a new report by the UN climate experts (IPCC), unequivocally showing that the climate is changing faster than feared, through the fault of the humanity. Global warming could reach the threshold of + 1.5 ° C around 2030, ten years earlier than estimated, threatening new "unprecedented" disasters, according to this report. Humans are "indisputably" responsible for climate change and have no choice but to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions if they want to limit the damage, experts from the IPCC noted.
Concrete illustrations of climate change, the world has already been confronted this year with extreme climate events: spectacular fires in Greece and Turkey, forest fires in Siberia and California, famine in Madagascar, exceptional floods in China and in Germany, record heat wave in Canada, etc.
These events occur when the global temperature rise is "only" 1.1 ° C compared to the pre-industrial period.
In 2015, the Paris Agreement provided for limiting global warming to a level well below 2 ° C, preferably at + 1.5 ° C.
Calls for action are multiplying and all eyes are now on Glasgow, where leaders from around the world will meet in November for the COP 26 climate conference.