The world alarmingly recorded its hottest day in history on Monday, US National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s data shows.
After that, there were three more record-breaking global temperatures and seven days of unprecedented increase to 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 17 Celsius. As per the report, the world has not achieved this temperature since at least 1940, when records first started being maintained.
Indeed, the world is facing serious problems related to climate change. However, learning the cause of this rapid increase in this summer’s global temperature remains interesting.
More importantly, what can people predict about the future from the current high heat tendencies?
In that sense, ASU News interviewed a person with very high knowledge about the matter, Randy Cerveny. He is the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) keeper of the world’s weather records and a President’s Professor in ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.
It must be noted that this interview is courtesy of Arizona State University (ASU).
The interview
ASU News question: Reports have headlines saying that “the planet saw its hottest day on record last week” and more records may follow; is that accurate?
Mr. Randy Cerveny: That is a strange way of phrasing it, but it is correct. To me, the phrase “hottest day on record” implies that every place on Earth was hot — no, it doesn’t work that way. That number by the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information is a geographically weighted average of all temperatures around the planet. What they are saying is that the average of all temperatures, weighted by the area they represent, was the highest value we have recorded.
I personally would say, “the temperature of the Earth, as averaged from our existing set of sensors, was the highest or hottest temperature recorded.”
ASU News question: What is causing this sudden increase in temperature?
Mr. Randy Cerveny: Two things are causing it. Long term, it’s the underlying steady year-by-year increase in temperatures around the world due to our human activities over the last hundred years; and short term, it’s the start of an El Niño episode in the Pacific Ocean. El Niño is a massive warming of the central equatorial Pacific Ocean. Since the Pacific Ocean covers such a large part of the planet, when that ocean warms, the entire planet’s average temperature increases.
ASU News question: How does the process of certifying temperature records work, and why do certifiers not use the global average metric?
Mr. Randy Cerveny: We at the WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes work with individual stations — not with aggregated values for large regions or the globe. The reason is that aggregated temperature value is a function of mathematical relationships linking temperatures to geographical measurements.
For example, is the Phoenix Sky Harbor temperature representative of just the airport? Or just Phoenix? Or just Maricopa County? Or of Arizona? How we average temperatures across space is a very complex mathematical process. The people at (the National Centers for Environmental Information) are experts at that type of thing. We at the WMO Archive work only with instrumented observations for specific locations.
ASU News question: What do the data and records from the past few years indicate about the overall temperature trends?
Mr. Randy Cerveny: We are getting warmer. The last three years haven’t had record-high global temperatures, although they have remained very high, because of the occurrence of three years of La Niña — the cooling of the Pacific. Now with El Niño, we will really see global temperatures rise.
ASU News question: Could you discuss the potential consequences of these record-breaking temperatures? What kind of impact might we expect to see in terms of heat waves and other climate changes?
Mr. Randy Cerveny: The three common effects attributed to anthropogenic climate change are increased rainfalls, particularly as associated with tropical cyclones, increased droughts and much warmer nights.
ASU News question: What is the important takeaway message for someone who’s been reading the news and seeing these global records fall?
Mr. Randy Cerveny: This finding announced by the National Centers for Environmental Information continues to demonstrate that our Earth is continuing to warm, and we — humanity — are one of the primary causes of those increases in temperatures.
Our available scientific research continues to indicate that increasing warmth will cause fundamental changes in the lives of our children and grandchildren. Unless the current climate trends slow or reverse, they will live in a different world than the one in which we have lived.
This kind of extreme weather highly signifies the substantial impact of people’s activities on the planet. Therefore, governments worldwide must act immediately.
See Also:
- Elon Musk Says the World Has a Bigger Problem than Global Warming
- IEA: Renewable energy sources to keep global CO2 emissions from increasing over 1% this year
- Global EV production is projected to hit 54 million units by 2029, says Report
- Greece runs on 100% renewable energy for the first time in its history
- What Effects Will the Future Climate Have on Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs)?
This record-high global temperature is a strong reminder of the profound problems brought on by climate change. As mentioned, the global temperature has hit unprecedented levels, which calls for immediate action.
Among the crucial steps the world must take is accelerating its shift to sustainable transportation, particularly through electric vehicles. It significantly contributes to alleviating carbon emissions and fighting air pollution, which are major drivers of global warming. Integrating renewable energy sources in EV charging infrastructures will also improve the advantages of the technology, offering a truly sustainable operation.
