Another record in climate history was marked in March, with the global temperature rising to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This is already the 11th straight month when the global temperature reaches a heat record.
The new heat record was announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on its official website. While the December 2015 Paris climate conference has agreed on the goal to keep climate temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius, the first three months of 2016 show that this goal is far to reach.
According to Tech Times, the independent organization Climate Central reports an average global temperature of 1.48 degrees Celsius from January to March. This number is much too close to the 2 degrees Celsius climate goal established at the Paris conference.
While in January 2016 the global average temperature was 1.4 degrees Celsius, in February the climate temperature was broken an average value of 1.55 degrees Celsius. This is also the first time in any month that the climate temperature exceeded the milestone of 1.5 degrees Celsius. In March 2016 the average global temperature was 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Climate Central group based their computations on the information about the average global temperature provided by NOAA and NASA. As a baseline data was used information about the global temperatures from the period 1881-1910.
Despite the bad start, 2016 still has nine months. The world still has enough time to achieve the Paris climate goal. There are still hopes, according to climate experts, that temperatures will not exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius climate-normal.
Climate Central group explains on its website that the hot start for the year can be seen as a "symbolic milestone." If emissions continue at the current level then the past months indicate where the world is headed in terms of global temperature averages.
Scientific American reports that global leaders are meeting this week in New York to sign the Paris climate agreement. The goal expressed in the document is to limit "the temperature increase to 1.5°C."
