The European Union’s climate monitoring agency says global temperatures reached a new high for the 10th consecutive month in March.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service said Tuesday that global temperatures averaged just over 14 degrees Celsius last month, 1.64 degrees Celsius warmer than the average temperatures for the same month between the pre-industrial era spanning the years 1850 to 1900.
The agency also said the full year ending in March was the hottest 12-month period ever recorded, with temperatures reaching 1.58 Celsius above the averages in the pre-industrial era.
C-3-S says sea surface temperatures last month averaged 21.07 degrees Celsius, the highest monthly value on record and just slightly higher than the mark of 21.06 degrees Celsius posted the month before. The March temperatures were recorded as the cyclical El Nino climate pattern, which warms the surface of the Pacific Ocean, continued to ease after peaking in December and January.
But the agency said marine air temperatures remained at an unusually high level.
