The country had its second warmest March on record, with Antarctic sea ice shrinking to its second-lowest extent, the EU’s climate monitoring agency said on Thursday.
“The month was jointly the second warmest March globally,” said a report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.The report is based on computer-generated analysis using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.
Temperatures were above average in southern and central Europe and below average in most of northern Europe.
Much of northern Africa, southwestern Russia, Asia, northeastern North America, South America including drought-stricken Argentina, Australia, and coastal Antarctica were much warmer than average.
Antarctic sea recorded warmest day
Conversely, western and central North America was much colder than average, the agency said. Global warming is causing sea ice loss and sea levels to rise, prompting warnings that dangerous tipping points could be reached.
Copernicus said Antarctic sea ice extent was the second lowest for March in the 45-year satellite data record, at 28 percent below average.
In February, it reached the smallest recorded area for the second consecutive year and continued its ten-year decline. In the north, Arctic sea ice extent was four percent below average and collectively the fourth lowest for March on record, although concentrations were above average in the Greenland Sea.
As temperatures rise globally due to human-caused climate change, Copernicus data shows that the past eight years have been the eight warmest on record. A UN report in March warned that these record temperatures would be among the coldest in three or four decades as global temperatures rise, even as planet-warming emissions fall rapidly.
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