DLast March was the warmest since weather records began. This emerges from data from the EU climate service Copernicus. “March 2024 continues the string of climate records being broken for both air and sea surface temperatures, with the tenth consecutive record month,” said Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess.
The air temperature on the earth's surface averaged 14.14 degrees in March, the service said on Tuesday. That is 0.73 degrees more than the average for the reference period from 1991 to 2020 and 0.10 degrees more than in the warmest March recorded so far in 2016.
Compared to the period 1850 to 1900, the pre-industrial reference period, the month was 1.68 degrees warmer, it said. The global average temperature for the past twelve months (April 2023 to March 2024) is the highest on record and is 1.58 degrees above the pre-industrial average. However, that does not mean that the Paris 1.5 degree target has been missed, as longer-term average values are being looked at.
The European Union's climate change service Copernicus regularly publishes data on surface temperatures, sea ice cover and precipitation. The findings are based on computer-generated analyzes that incorporate billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.