The world’s combined global land and ocean surface temperature made last month the warmest March on record, according to federal government scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.
Taken separately, average ocean temperatures were the warmest for any March and the global land surface was the fourth warmest for any March on record.
Additionally, the planet has seen the fourth warmest January through March period on record, NOAA analysts conclude.
Arctic sea ice covered an average of 5.8 million square miles (15.1 million square kilometers) during March. This is 4.1 percent below the 1979-2000 average expanse, and the fifth-smallest March coverage since records began in 1979.
Ice coverage traditionally reaches its maximum in March, and NOAA scientists observed that this was the 17th consecutive March with below-average Arctic sea ice coverage.
Melanie Fitzpatrick, a climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, says the recent data are part of an overarching trend.
“The continuing warming trend of temperatures worldwide explodes the global cooling myth contrarians have been peddling for the past several years,” Fitzpatrick said.
“While we can’t draw strong conclusions from a single month, we know that global warming will bring more record-breaking temperatures in the future. Hot months are just a harbinger of a future that could include more heat waves, more droughts, and species extinctions as animals attempt to migrate to colder areas and run out of habitat,” she said.
“The good news is that the degree to which global warming affects our economy and environment is ultimately up to us,” Fitzpatrick said. “If we significantly reduce emissions, we can avoid the worst effects of climate change.”
via Global Temperatures Last Month Broke Heat Records for March.