Climate change: July the warmest month ever recorded

Global value driven by record warmth across large expanses of Pacific and Indian oceans

ISLAMABAD: The recently released National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data reveals that July 2015 was the warmest month ever recorded.

According to NOAA’s National Centre for Environmental Information (NCEI) data, the average temperature of July across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.46°F (0.81°C), more than the 20th century’s average.

July had an all time high monthly temperature in the1880–2015 record at 61.86°F (16.61°C), surpassing the previous record set in 1998 at 0.14°F (0.08°C).

Month wise breakup shows that average global temperature for land surface in the month was 1.73°F (0.96°C) more than the 20th century average. This was sixth highest for July in the 1880–2015 record.

Similarly, average global temperature for sea surface in July was 1.35°F (0.75°C) more than the 20th century average. This was the highest temperature for any month in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record set in July 2014 at 0.13°F (0.07°C).

The global value was driven by record warmth across large expanses of Pacific and Indian oceans.

The data pictured that the average Arctic Sea ice extent in the month was 350,000 square miles (9.5 per cent) below the 1981–2010 average. This was eighth smallest July extent since 1979 and largest since 2009, according to an analysis by National Snow and Ice Data Centre, using data from NOAA and Nasa.

Antarctic Sea ice during July was 240,000 square miles (3.8 per cent) more than the 1981–2010 average. This was fourth largest July Antarctic Sea ice extent on record and 140,000 square miles lesser than record large July extent of 2014.

The year-to-date temperature combined across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.53°F (0.85°C) more than the 20th century average. This was highest for January–July in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record of 0.16°F (0.09°C) set in 2010.

The year-to-date average global land surface and sea surface temperatures were 2.41°F (1.34°C) and 1.21°F (0.67°C) respectively more than the 20th century average. These were highest for January–July in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous records of 0.27°F (0.15°C) set in 2007 and 0.11°F (0.06°C) in 2010 respectively.

Moreover, every major ocean basin observed record warmth in some areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2015.