“According to NASA, the world experienced the highest June temperatures ever recorded in 2023. NASA’s global temperature analysis, known as GISTEMP, showed that the average global surface temperature in June 2023 was 1.26°C higher than the average for the period from 1951-1980, which NASA uses as a reference point to compare how the climate has changed over time. This surpassed the previous record of 1.22°C set in June 2022.

GISTEMP is based on data from various sources that measure the temperature of the land and the ocean around the world. These include weather stations on land, research stations in Antarctica, instruments on ships and buoys in the sea, and satellites in orbit. NASA scientists at the GISS in New York process and analyze these data using sophisticated methods that account for possible errors and inconsistencies in the measurements. They also use statistical techniques to fill in the gaps where data are missing or sparse, such as in the polar regions or remote areas.

The results of GISTEMP are consistent with other independent analyses of global temperature, such as those from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Met Office Hadley Centre (UK), and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). These analyses also use different data sources and methods, but they all show the same trend of rising global temperatures over the past decades. Moreover, the GISTEMP results are in agreement with the satellite data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, which has been measuring the temperature of the atmosphere and the surface since 2002.

The record-breaking June temperatures in 2023 are part of a long-term warming trend that is driven by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and agriculture, that increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These gases trap heat and cause the Earth’s climate system to warm up. The effects of this warming are evident in the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, the rising of sea levels, the intensification of extreme weather events, and the disruption of ecosystems and biodiversity. NASA’s global temperature analysis is one of the tools that scientists use to monitor and understand the changes in the Earth’s climate and their impacts on the planet and its inhabitants.”

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