Climate change the world warming faster than expected worrying lows in Antarctic sea-ice, and extreme weather events hitting every continent- the latest being an “unbearable” heatwave in Brazil.

There is almost no doubt that 2023 will be the hottest year on record. This was something that no major climate science organization expected when the year began.

Climate scientists have long known that temperatures will continue to rise as humans continue to emit record amounts of planet-heating greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Global warming is primarily caused by this.

Four additional reasons could explain the “gobsmacking” increase in temperatures in 2023, which scientists are still struggling to fully explain.

El Nio, a natural weather system that has occurred with unusual rapidity, is one of the principal factors.

The eastern Pacific surface waters are heated during an El Nio, releasing additional heat into the atmosphere. The result is usually an increase in global air temperatures.

As you can see, it has not yet reached the intensity of the last major one in 2016, but is expected to do so sooner rather than later.

It is possible that the ongoing El Nio of 2023 will release even more warmth than previous ones, as the world had previously experienced an extended cool period – an opposite weather pattern called La Nia – which was central to how this winter was developed.

As a result of this, global temperatures remained low for an unusually long time, as warm air was less able to escape from the surface of the sea.

During this period, the oceans continued to absorb record amounts of heat, which has now begun to escape into the atmosphere.

Nevertheless, temperatures have risen much faster during this El Nio than in the past, and it has not even reached its peak strength yet.