If you’ve been struggling with the heat an unusual amount this summer, chances are you are not alone. Around the world, organizations keeping tabs on climate change have been releasing data that shows the earth in the midst of a global heat wave so severe, scientists worldwide believe 2015 to undoubtedly become the hottest year on record, stealing away the title from 2014, which until recently was the warmest recorded year.
A RECORD-BREAKING SPREE
Newly-released data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show signs of a global heat wave, as reported temperatures are smashing previous records across the world–including the western US, Central to western Africa, and Central to Southeast Asia. According to their research, this past June proved to be the hottest of the past 136 years, as well as the warmest month in general to date. Additionally, the first six months of the year are shown to also be the warmest on record.
The global average surface temperature in June was so exceedingly high, it became the fourth-highest departure for any month on record—this is particularly shocking, as the two highest departures from their monthly averages also happened within the same year, in February and March. The month of June broke records for many countries on a daily basis–including Australia–where temperatures 1.35C higher than the daily average were felt nationwide.
THE DATA TO PROVE IT
According to NOAA’s data, the average temperatures of global land and ocean surfaces were shown to be 0.85C above average from January ‘14 through June ‘15, making them the highest average temperatures for the twelve month span since record keeping began in the late 1800’s.
The average temperature in June was 0.88C above the 20th-century average of 15.5C, surpassing the previous record set in 2014 by 0.12C. This data was collected with the use of new techniques, as NOAA is aiming to correct several factors “related to sea-surface temperature measurements” by taking into account the data collected from thousands of weather stations around the world, including factors such as ocean salinity; sea ice extent; and snow cover. While these new methods are yet to provide any significant insight into the global heat wave that their previous methods have not, NOAA is confident that the data collected will be much more accurate, and thus helpful towards finding future solutions to climate change.
IS GLOBAL WARMING TO BLAME?
Yes, and no. While global warming certainly doesn’t help, most scientists believe recently stubborn El Niño conditions to be the primary cause for the sudden and rapid increase in global temperatures. The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) in Maryland has recently released data that shows may become the strongest El Niño ever recorded brewing in the tropical Pacific Ocean, intensifying global averages at an alarming rate. To help explain, the head of climate monitoring at the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Deke Arndt asks we imagine climate the current rate of climate change like riding an escalator: “Climate change is a long-term driver, so that’s like standing on an escalator as it goes up, [whereas] El Niño is like jumping up and down while you’re on that escalator.”
Rising sea levels and greenhouse gasses are right to blame for the slow increase in temperatures that have been recorded in recent years, but it is their pairing with El Niño that has thrown the world into the record breaking global heat wave it’s in. NOAA predicts that there’s an 80% chance for El Niño to stick around until Spring 2016.
