Climate nears point of no return as land, sea temperatures break records, experts say

Sydney, June 30 (BNA): The long-term global target of keeping 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) is out of reach, climate experts said, as countries failed to set more ambitious targets despite months of rising temperatures. land and sea.

As envoys gathered in Bonn in early June to prepare for this year’s annual climate talks in November, global average surface air temperatures have been more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for several days, according to the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). ). He said.

Although average temperatures had temporarily crossed the 1.5°C threshold before, this was the first time they had done so in the Northern Hemisphere summer that begins on June 1.

“We’re running out of time because change takes time,” said Sarah Perkins Kirkpatrick, a climate scientist at the Australian University of New South Wales.

Parts of North America were about 10 degrees Celsius warmer than the seasonal average this month, and smoke from wildfires shrouded Canada and the east coast of the United States in a menacing haze, with carbon emissions estimated at 160 million metric tons.

Countries agreed in Paris in 2015 to try to keep the long-term average temperature rise within 1.5°C, but there is now a 66% chance that the annual average will cross the 1.5°C threshold for at least a full year from now. And until 2027, the World Meteorological Organization predicted in May.

Global mean sea surface temperatures reached 21°C in late March and remained at record levels for this time of year throughout April and May. The Australian Meteorological Agency has warned that temperatures in the Pacific and Indian Oceans could be up to 3C warmer than normal by October.

Global warming was the main factor, said Piers Forster, professor of climate physics at the University of Leeds, but El Niño, the decline of desert dust that blows over the ocean, and the use of low-sulfur shipping fuels were also to blame.

Warming seas could also mean less winds and precipitation, said Annalisa Bracco, a climate scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, creating a vicious cycle that leads to more heat.

insignificant