NASA and the National Oceanic Administration (NOAA) say 2021 will be the sixth warmest year on record. The two bodies of science also revealed that the last eight years were the eight hottest years in history.
"The fact is we've now moved towards a new regime ... this is probably the hottest decade in hundreds, maybe 1,000s of years," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. 1/2022).
"There have been enough changes to have an impact locally," he continued.
Some of the local effects of extreme heat can be found in America and Europe. On the southwestern coast of the United States and western Canada in June and July 2021, record-breaking heat extremes melted roads and power lines.
In the desert region of the southern US, the Valley of Death, known as one of the hottest places on Earth, recorded temperatures of up to 54.4 degrees Celsius in July 2021. Overall, NOAA said July 2021 was the hottest month on record.
Continental Europe also experiences extreme heat. In Sicily, Italy, August 2021 hot temperatures hit 48.8 degrees Celsius and almost broke the record for the hottest temperature in Europe.
Not only makes the air feel hot, extreme heat is also a serious problem. Visits to emergency departments on the US southwest coast are increasing due to the extreme heat wave.
The small town of Lytton in British Columbia, Canada is also experiencing severe wildfires after recording the hottest temperatures in Canadian history. "The scale of the human tragedy there, even if there weren't any fatalities, it's a community that's now crumbling," Schmidt said.
The heat trapped in the oceans will also reach a new record in 2021. Heat waves in the oceans are now becoming more frequent, and have the potential to threaten coral reef populations, harm the fishing industry, and make land droughts worse.
Recently, the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which is part of the European Union, also released data on global temperature records. Their data differs slightly from those presented by NASA and NOAA in that they use different methods to make their calculations.
Copernicus found that 2021 was the fifth warmest year on record. They also confirmed that global temperatures have increased by more than one degree Celsius since pre-industrial times due to greenhouse gases emitted by burning fuels.
Experts are urging a transition to green energy as global warming must stay below two degrees Celsius to avert the deadly effects of climate change.
