On July 7, 2023, in Beijing, tourists visited the Temple of Heaven Park under the scorching sun. Visual China Map

According to preliminary data compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States and the University of Maine, the global temperature hit a record high again on July 6. The global average temperature 2 meters above the Earth's surface reached 17.23°C.

That surpassed the combined record of 17.18°C set on July 4 and 5, which had previously broken the previous record of 17.01°C set on July 3. The past seven days have been the seven warmest on Earth since instrumental records began in the 1850s. The last time Earth was this hot was during the Aymu interglacial about 120,000 years ago, says Karsten Haustein of the University of Leipzig in Germany.

"What we are witnessing now shows that climate change is out of control," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said earlier in a statement. situation, as these temperature records show."

These records were partly corroborated by the European Union's climate monitoring service. Its ERA5 dataset also recorded record global surface temperatures on July 3 and 4, the agency said. Preliminary data showed July 5 was also a record-breaking day.

Before this week, August 2016 and July 2022 jointly recorded the previous highest temperatures, when the global average reached 16.92°C, data from the University of Maine Climate Reanalysis showed.

Scientists say the rise in global temperatures is being driven by a combination of climate change and an unusually wavy band of strong winds, known as jet streams, over the North Atlantic Ocean.

Across Canada, the United States and Mexico have experienced scorching weather over the past few weeks, with temperatures soaring above 46C in some places. Piers Forster of the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom says the ongoing heatwave is caused by the omega-shaped jet stream, which maintains the hot weather and fuels record global temperatures. This "wave-like" jet stream pattern could be a secondary effect of climate change and could mean such record-breaking heat will become more common in the future, Forster said.

"We do observe the effects of climate change -- warming of the Earth's surface. But secondary climate change could also have an effect on circulation, which is very worrying because it means we could be stuck in these long-duration conditions more often. extreme heat," Forster said.

An intensifying El Niño, in which rising temperatures in the Pacific Ocean lead to global warming and more extreme weather, could mean more record-breaking weather later this year, said Robert Rohde of Berkeley Earth.

Haustein pointed out that Antarctica's winter temperatures are warmer than usual, which will lead to record low sea ice levels this year, which will also lead to higher than normal global average temperatures. "This factor, combined with El Niño and continued human-caused climate change, means we should be witnessing a new record."

"With the end of El Niño, probably in about two years, the average global temperature will return to normal levels." Climate change means there will be a baseline of continued warming to contend with, Forster argues, reducing greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible It is the best way to reduce the occurrence of record high temperatures in the future.

(Originally titled "Global average temperature record "three consecutive breaks" last week was the hottest week since the earth recorded")