Washington, Jan 12 (EFE).- The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed Friday that 2023 was the warmest year since global records began in 1880.<\/p>
According to NASA’s analysis, global temperatures in 2023 were about 1.2 degrees Celsius above the average for the reference period (1951-1980), scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) reported.<\/p>
“NASA and NOAA’s global climate report confirms what billions of people around the world experienced last year: we are facing a climate crisis,” from “extreme heat to wildfires to rising sea levels,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.<\/p>
This record temperature coincides with a year of extreme weather around the globe, with 25 disasters in the United States alone causing more than one billion dollars in damage.<\/p>
In an interview with EFE, Marangelly Fuentes, a scientist and meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said that in terms of extreme weather, it is not so much the increase in phenomena that will be of concern, but “how destructive these natural disasters will become.”<\/p>
Fuentes added in the interview that as long as greenhouse gases continue to rise, so will the global temperature.<\/p>
She also expressed “hope” in the agreement reached last December at the climate summit in Dubai, COP28, where it was agreed to start a transition away from fossil fuels to limit the temperature rise.<\/p>
The “exceptional heat” that hit much of the world had 31 consecutive days with temperatures above 43 degrees Celsius (109\u00b0 F).<\/p>
Extreme heat caused “scorching” heat waves in South America, Japan, Europe, and the US.<\/p>
World temperature records were set every month from June through December. July was the hottest month on record. <\/p>
Russell Vose, chief of the Product Development Branch at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, said at the report’s release conference that temperatures in 2023 were about 0.15 degrees Celsius warmer on average than those registered in 2016.<\/p>
NASA highlighted the massive forest fires in Canada and Hawaii, and the heavy rains in Italy, Greece, United States, and Central Europe, among other natural tragedies that occurred in 2023.<\/p>
According to the analysis, Tropical Cyclone Freddy became the longest cyclone in history, devastating parts of Madagascar and Mozambique with deadly floods and landslides. <\/p>
“More and more rain and hurricanes are expected in areas that are not prepared for these conditions,” Fuentes said.<\/p>
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also confirmed that 2023 was the warmest year on record (breaking 2016 and 2020 records). EFE<\/p>
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