The year 2023 is recognized as the hottest year in recorded history

The year 2023 was recognized as the hottest year in the history of observations, facilitated by anthropogenic climate change and the natural weather phenomenon El Niño, writes UNN with reference to the BBC.

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According to the EU climate service, last year was about 1.48°C warmer than the long-term average before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels.

Sea surface temperatures also broke previous highs.

These global records bring the world closer to meeting key international climate goals.

"What struck me was not only that (2023) was a record year, but how much it broke previous records," notes Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University.

12 months ago, no major scientific organization predicted that 2023 would be the hottest year on record because of the complex behavior of Earth's climate.

In the first few months of the year, only a small number of days broke air temperature records.

But then in the second half of 2023, the world set an almost uninterrupted series of daily records.

BBC analysis shows that almost every day since July has seen a new global maximum in air temperature for what was then the time of year.

This recent rise in temperature is mainly due to the rapid transition to El Niño conditions that has occurred amid long-term anthropogenic warming, the publication writes.

El Niño is a natural phenomenon where warmer surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean release additional heat into the atmosphere.

However, during the early stages of the El Niño phase, temperatures rose unusually: the full effects could not be expected until early 2024, after El Niño had reached maximum strength.

"It raises some really interesting questions about why (2023) was so warm," notes Zeke Hausfather, a climatologist at Berkeley Earth, a science organization in the United States.

Another notable feature of the 2023 heat wave is that it was felt almost worldwide. As indicated, temperatures were above average almost worldwide, especially in northern Canada, parts of the Arctic and Antarctic, and western South America.

This record global warming has contributed to the worsening of many extreme weather events in much of the world in 2023, from severe heat waves and wildfires in Canada and the United States to prolonged drought and then flooding in parts of East Africa.

Many of these occurred on a scale far beyond what has been seen recently, or at unusual times of the year.

2024 could be warmer than 2023 - as some of the record heat from the ocean surface will escape into the atmosphere - although the "strange" behavior of the current El Niño means it's hard to be sure, Dr. Hausfather says.

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