Scientists say last year saw the hottest northern hemisphere summer in 2,000 years, France24 reported, as humanity’s release of greenhouse gases continued to keep trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Researchers say 2023 was the hottest year globally since records began in 1850, as the study in the journal Nature also revealed that man-made influences have pushed northern summer highs well beyond anything seen in two millennia, the AFP-sourced story went on.
The report authors used tree-ring data from sites across the northern hemisphere to estimate global temperatures between the first century AD and 1850, before the advent of modern observational instruments. Their conservative estimate was that 2023 was at least 0.5 degrees Celsius hotter than the warmest northern hemisphere summer of that period in AD246.
- By Sean O’Meara
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