STORY: ::Julien Nicolas, Copernicus climate scientist
"April this year was the warmest April on record globally. That's the 11th month for which the temperature has been the warmest on record for the same month in all previous year for which we have data."
:: May 7, 2024
"What's most puzzling, is that despite the end of the El Nino event, the global sea surface temperature remains so high. Many scientists have asked the question whether there could be a shift in the climate system. I think that's, that's one of the questions that is keeping scientists, climate scientists busy at the moment, is trying to understand whether we fully understand the climate system or if something had a shift, whether we have reached a possible tipping point."
Each month since June 2023 has ranked as the planet's hottest on record, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin.
Including April, the world's average temperature was the highest on record for a 12-month period - 1.61 degrees Celsius above the average in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.
Some of the extremes - including months of record breaking sea surface temperatures - have led scientists to investigate whether human activity has now triggered a tipping point in the climate system.
