The temperature records in 2024 on land and at sea are considered a growingly alarming climate crisis. However, not everyone agrees.
El Niño, one of the primary causes of global temperature records, has experienced weakening over the past year. Nevertheless, ocean temperatures remain high.
This has led to differences of opinion among scientists in addressing this issue and predicting global warming patterns.
Some scientists emphasize that global warming is the result of fossil fuel combustion, including petroleum, and deforestation by humans.
Meanwhile, some other scientists still feel puzzled and concerned about the rapid temperature changes occurring. Considering that the ocean, which is the Earth’s largest heat reservoir, can absorb more than 90 percent of anthropogenic (human-made) warming.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced in early March that El Niño or the temperature anomaly in the Pacific Ocean has now passed its peak.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that El Niño contributed to making 2023 the hottest year on record. However, the primary driver remains global warming.
“The sea surface temperature in January 2024 was the highest ever recorded in January. This is worrying and cannot be explained solely by El Niño,” Celeste Saulo said as quoted by The Guardian on Saturday (16/3).
According to the European Union’s satellite monitoring program, Copernicus, sea surface temperatures in February were also hotter than in any other month in history.
From February 8th to 11th, the global temperature reached 2 degrees Celsius, higher than the average temperature during the period 1850-1900. For a month, Europe experienced temperatures 3.3 degrees Celsius above that standard.
Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said this is indicative of an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
“If we fail to stabilize it, we will surely face new global temperature records and their consequences,” he said.
Separately, Climate Expert from Brazil, Carlos Nobre, explained that there has been no climate model that accurately predicts how high sea surface temperatures have been over the past 12 months.
However, given the ongoing warmth in the oceans, Carlos predicts that 2024 is likely to be a hot year.
Climate Expert at the University of Miami, Brian McNoldy, managed to calculate deviations from statistical averages as an event that occurs once in 284,000 years.
“This heatwave has broken records for a full year, often with differences that seem impossible,” he tweeted on his X account.
The impact on coral and other marine life cannot be estimated. The Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef ecosystem in Australia, has experienced its fifth mass bleaching event in the past eight years.
Meteorologists warn that high sea surface temperatures may also indicate longer and more active storm seasons. !!!!!!!!
Other Claims
Zeke Hausfather, a scientist at Berkeley Earth, USA, said that global sea and surface temperatures are “quite high.” However, he said these temperatures still fall within climate model projections.
“We do not yet have strong evidence from observations showing that the world is warming faster than predicted by the results of human-induced emissions,” he argued.
The WMO revealed that there is an 80 percent chance that El Niño will completely fade between April and June. After that, its counterpart phenomenon, La Niña, emerges.
Climate professors at the University of Groningen and the University of Santiago, Raúl Cordero, revealed the likelihood of cooling effects arising from the La Niña phenomenon between June and August.
According to him, the cooling effects of La Niña, which often trigger heavy rainfall in Indonesia, are expected to at least alleviate global heat temporarily.
“All recent temperature records are likely to be broken soon. This situation will continue to worsen until we stop burning fossil fuels,” he concluded.
