Summer 2023 was the hottest in the northern hemisphere over the past 2,000 years, researchers have found. An assessment by scientists comparing last year to the past two millennia using tree ring data found that the summer months of June, July and August were at least 0.5C hotter than the extremes of a naturally-varying climate.
Scientists used observations from weather stations and compared limited early records with tree ring data to show that 2023 summer temperatures over northern hemisphere land were 2.07C warmer than for 1850 to 1900. The 1850 to 1900 period is used as a baseline for the pre-industrial period to assess the global warming that has occurred as a result of human activity such as burning fossil fuels, including in the Paris Agreement under which countries have agreed to limit temperature rises to 1.5C.
It showed that the summer of 2023 exceeded the long-term pre-instrumental average from 1AD to 1890 by 2.2C. The coldest reconstructed summer was in 536 AD, which was influenced by a large volcanic eruption that cooled the surface of the planet by putting out large amounts of aerosols that blocked the sun.
Study co-author Professor Ulf Buntgen, from Cambridge's Department of Geography, said: "When you look at the long sweep of history, you can see just how dramatic recent global warming is. 2023 was an exceptionally hot year, and this trend will continue unless we dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
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