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Temperature in 2023 expected highest Earth

2023 is expected to be one of the warmest years on record, with average temperatures climbing to 1.2C over pre-industrial levels, according to the UK Met Office's annual global temperature estimate. This year will mark the ninth consecutive year with global temperatures exceeding 1C if these forecasts come true.

The "El Nio" climate phenomena in the Pacific Ocean considerably aided in the rise in global temperatures that made 2016 the warmest year on record since scientists began monitoring them in 1850.

Without a previous El Nio to boost global temperatures, 2023 might not break records, but Adam Scaife, head of long-range forecasts at the Met Office, said that the following year "would likely be another remarkable year in the series."

"A prolonged La Nina, in which tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures are lower than typical, has had an impact on the global temperature over the past three years. According to Nick Dunstone, a Met Office scientist who oversaw the 2023 projection, "La Nina temporarily lowers the world average temperature.

"For the coming year, our climate model predicts that the three years of successive La Nina states will come to an end, and that regions of the tropical Pacific will once again experience somewhat warmer conditions.  

The result of this change will probably be a warmer world in 2023 than in 2022.

Scientists caution that the enormous temperature range throughout the planet, with regions like the Arctic having warmed by several degrees over pre-industrial times, is hidden by the fact that global average temperatures have been at or above 1C for a decade.

Therefore, it is essential to act quickly to limit global warming to 1.5C in order to avert the worst effects of climate change. This can be done by drastically lowering greenhouse gas emissions and moving quickly toward sustainable energy sources.

The website of the Met Office has additional information and statistics.

Earth plants affect atmospheric

Researchers from the Universities of Nottingham and Copenhagen have discovered that when forests first appeared on Earth around 385 million years ago, there was far less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than previously assumed. These discoveries have significant ramifications for our comprehension of how land plants influence the climate.

Deep shrub-like plants with stalks, shallow roots, and no blooms had already colonised the Earth's continents before they were covered in lofty trees and forests. Scientists have long believed that the atmosphere at that time had much higher CO2 levels than it does now, causing an intense greenhouse effect that resulted in a warmer climate. They also believe that it wasn't until forests emerged, which are thought to have promoted the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, that the Earth tipped into a colder state, with ice sheets forming at the poles.

But the scientists found that, between 410 and 380 million years ago, atmospheric CO2 levels were just 30 to 70% greater than they are now. This was determined by employing a cutting-edge approach to quantify CO2 levels based on measurements collected from fossil plant material. A paleoclimate model also revealed that the Earth was a temperate planet, with tropical surface air temperatures typically ranging from 24.1 to 24.6 degrees Celsius.

"We discovered that Earth had ice-covered poles when trees first appeared using a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean model. However, land plants could survive in the tropical, subtropical, and temperate zones, according to research co-author Georg Feulner of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, a climate modelling specialist.

These results show that trees may not have much of an impact on atmospheric CO2 levels over longer time scales, as early trees generated more developed soils with deeper roots, which were associated with less nutrient loss. Trees have a lower requirement for weathering than the shallow shrub-like vegetation that came before them because of this more effective nutrient recycling system. This approach debunks earlier hypotheses that claimed deeper-rooted trees boosted CO2 removal through accelerated chemical weathering and silicate rock disintegration.

The study's findings suggest that when primitive shrub-like vascular plants initially spread across the continents, they may have produced a significant reduction in atmospheric CO2 levels while also causing an increase in atmospheric oxygen levels.

The research is presented in the Nature Communications journal.