Berlin, May 8, (dpa/GNA) – April 2024 was the 11th month in a row with record-breaking global temperatures, EU scientists said.
It was also the first recorded April with a global average temperature of over 15 degrees Celsius, according to data from the EU climate change service Copernicus.
According to Copernicus boss Carlo Buontempo, the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases “will keep pushing the global temperature towards new records.”
The air temperature at the surface averaged 15.03 degrees Celsius in April, 0.67 degrees Celsius higher than the April average for the years 1991 to 2020, the service said on Wednesday.
In Europe, April was 1.49 degrees Celsius warmer than the comparable period. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), Europe is heating up the fastest out of all the continents.
Compared to the period from 1850 to 1900, the pre-industrial reference period, the month was 1.58 degrees Celsius warmer globally, according to the report.
The global average temperature for May 2023 to April 2024 is the highest since records began and is 1.61 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.
However, this does not yet mean that the 1.5-degree-Celsius target of the Paris Agreement has been missed, as longer-term average values are used for this purpose. If the temperature trend of the past 30 years continues, this will happen in 2033, Copernicus recently wrote.
The EU service regularly publishes data on the Earth’s surface temperature, sea ice cover and precipitation.
The findings are based on computer-generated analyses that incorporate billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world. The data used dates back to 1950, with some earlier data also available.