14 DAY TRIAL // Figures shared with the public by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States indicate that this year's April was the 350th month in a row when global average temperatures were above mean temperatures documented in the 20th century.
Specifically, the average temperature recorded on a global scale throughout the month of April is said to have been above the 20th century average by 0.77 degrees Celsius (1.39 degrees Fahrenheit), Mongabay informs.
Interestingly enough, this happened despite the fact that certain regions of the United States, Canada, and Central Asia turned out to be way cooler than was expected for this time of the year, the same source informs.
Thus, this increase in global average temperatures for this year's April was largely due to the fact that Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Siberia, and northern Africa all experienced a significant increase in local temperatures, specialists explain.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that, since the end of the 19th century until present day, the world's average temperature throughout the course of the year has increased by about 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.44 degrees Fahrenheit).
This chiefly happened as a result of the intense use of fossil fuels on a global scale and the resulting increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions, researchers working with the Administration argue.
The fact that this year's April was the 350th month in a row when temperatures failed to fall below the 20th century average basically means that, since February 1985 until present day, monthly temperatures documented on a global scale have always exceeded the 20th century mean.
Scientists warn that, unless the world immediately moves to cut greenhouse gas emissions, this warming trend has high chances to continue in the months to come. Should this happen, the impact on natural ecosystems and human society will be devastating.
“We found that climate engineering doesn't offer a perfect option. The perfect option is reducing emissions,” researchers writing in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment said just a couple of days ago.
“We have to cut down the amount of emissions we're putting into the atmosphere if, in the future, we want to have anything like the Earth we have now,” they added.
“We have the technology, and we know how to do it. It's just that there doesn't seem to be political support for reducing emissions,” specialist Daniela Cusack with the University of California, Los Angeles, believes.