@Nefrite hugely insignificant questions you're pondering there son. Keep at it.
meanwhile back on Earth....
EC's COPERNICUS: NORTHERN SUMMER BREAKS RECORDS
(below are extracts from a statement posted Sept. 6 by the EC's Copernicus agency about temperatures in August and other recent months.)
COPERNICUS:
"Most of the reported findings are based on the ERA5 reanalysis dataset, using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.
" August 2024 – Surface air temperature and sea surface temperature highlights: Global Temperatures
"August 2024 was the joint-warmest August globally (together with August 2023), with an average ERA5 surface air temperature of 16.82°C, 0.71°C above the 1991-2020 average for August.
"August 2024 was 1.51°C above the pre-industrial level and is the 13th month in a 14-month period for which the global-average surface air temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. *
"The global-average temperature for the past 12 months (September 2023 – August 2024) is the highest on record for any 12-month period, at 0.76°C above the 1991–2020 average and 1.64°C above the 1850–1900 pre-industrial average.
"These values are identical to those recorded for the previous two 12-month periods, ending in June and July 2024.
"The year-to-date (January–August 2024) global-average temperature anomaly is 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 average, which is the highest on record for this period and 0.23°C warmer than the same period in 2023.
"The average anomaly for the remaining months of this year would need to drop by at least 0.30°C for 2024 not to be warmer than 2023. This has never happened in the entire ERA5 dataset, making it increasingly likely that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record.
""Datasets other than ERA5 may not confirm the 13 months above 1.5°C highlighted here, due to the relatively small margins above 1.5°C of ERA5 global temperatures for July and August 2023 and May, June, and August 2024 and differences among the various datasets."
Sea surface temperature
"The average sea surface temperature (SST) for August 2024 over 60°S–60°N was 20.91°C, the second-highest value on record for the month, and only 0.07°C below August 2023.
" The equatorial Pacific had below-average temperatures, indicating a developing La Niña, but SSTs across the oceans remained unusually high over many regions.
"According to Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S): "During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest boreal summer on record.
"This string of record temperatures is increasing the likelihood of 2024 being the hottest year on record.
"The temperature-related extreme events witnessed this summer will only become more intense, with more devastating consequences for people and the planet unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." "
