Predictions from NASA scientists suggest that El Niño will cause a significant increase in the frequency of storms and floods between February and April. This forecast is part of the agency's new research direction.
Scientists at the North American Space Agency have officially stated: ““We are facing a climate crisis.”
Information released on Sunday, January 14, 2024 at 10:32 a.m. shows that 2023 was the hottest year on record, exceeding the average standard by 1.2 degrees Celsius. This data is based on the report from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), a division of NASA based in New York.
Scientists say the long-term warming trend is primarily due to human activity, although they continue to study other factors such as El Niño, aerosols and pollutants, and volcanic eruptions that influence the climate on an annual or multi-year basis.
In particular, they point out that the El Niño phenomenon in the Pacific plays an important role in climate change. After three consecutive La Niña events between 2020 and 2022, the ocean entered an El Niño period in May 2023, coinciding with rising global temperatures.
Although record temperatures were recorded in the second half of 2023, before the peak of the current El Niño phenomenon, the greatest impacts are expected to occur in the coming months of March and April.
El Niño and its extreme conditions
The report highlights that the year 2023 was characterized by the highest average temperature on the Earth's surface, regardless of the movement of ocean currents. This leads to extreme conditions such as heat waves and climate disasters that affect millions of people.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized the seriousness of the situation and said the global temperature report confirms the climate crisis. It recognizes the importance of taking action to reduce climate risks and strengthen community resilience.
In addition to the warming effect, the negative effects of the eruption of the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai in January 2022, which ejected aerosols into the stratosphere, are also being examined. Despite these random cooling factors, it is notable that as long as greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, new temperature records will continue to be set.
With information from: