Hot Weather and the Footprint of Global Warming in the Last Decade

The Earth's average surface temperature continues to increase and reaches its hottest temperature record in a decade, 2014-2023.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A satay vendor protects his head with a cloth during the scorching heat in Kraton District, Yogyakarta (4/5/2024). The temperature in Yogyakarta during the day over the past few days has been around 32 degrees Celsius. According to BMKG, the hot temperature is caused by the apparent movement of the sun.

Parts of Indonesia have been hit by hot weather since April 2024. A press release from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency on May 6 2024 stated that the phenomenon hot temperatures above 36 degrees Celsius in several areas in the country.

The highest maximum temperature recorded was in Palu, Central Sulawesi, reaching 37.8 degrees Celsius on April 23, 2024. In Medan, North Sumatra, the temperature reached 37 degrees Celsius on April 21, 2024. On the same day, the maximum temperature in Saumlaki, Maluku, reached 37.8 degrees Celsius.

Other regions that have also been observed experiencing hot temperatures are Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan, with a temperature of 36.6 degrees Celsius, followed by Sidoarjo, East Java at 36.6 degrees Celsius, and Bengkulu with a maximum air temperature reaching 36.6 degrees Celsius.

According to BMKG, this phenomenon is not caused by heat waves. The cause of this "hot" air temperature is the impact of the transition from the rainy season to the dry season. This season's transition means maximum sunlight occurs due to the lack of cloud cover.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

A worker who attended the Mayday Fiesta 2024 at the Madya Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta used a fan to fend off the heat, on Wednesday (1/5/2024).

The phenomenon of hot temperatures does not only hit Indonesia. In the Southeast Asia region, the weather extreme heat which occurred in April 2024 also hit the Philippines and Thailand. On April 24 2024, the temperature reached 40.1 degrees Celsius in the Thai capital, Bangkok. Meanwhile, in the southern region of Manila, Philippines, temperatures were reported to have reached 47 degrees Celsius (Kompas.id, 29/4/2024).

Not only at the start of this year, extreme temperature increases also occurred in several periods last year. This relentless rise in temperature has been marked since the beginning of the industrialization era in the world. Increased human activities using machine instruments, technology and fossil fuels have triggered an increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, triggering warming temperatures on Earth.

Air temperature is very easily influenced by human activities. If we look back, there have been major changes in human activity patterns since the industrial revolution which massively changed traditional production patterns to mass production patterns. Mass production patterns that rely on tools and machines also produce greenhouse gas which has a major impact on the balance of the earth's climate and global temperatures.

AFP/TED ALJIBE

Pedestrians use umbrellas to protect their heads from the hot sun while walking in Manila, Philippines, Thursday (25/4/2024).

Record temperature rise in the world and Indonesia

In their research, scientists from the NASA Goddard Institute in the United States stated that global temperatures have risen by at least 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1880. If broken down, since 1880, the average surface temperature has increased by 0.07 degrees Celsius per decade. This could be a sign that industrialization is the starting point for the increase in global temperatures.

Data from the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that 2016 and 2023 set records for the highest temperature anomalies in the past 10 years. The anomalies refer to an increase from the normal average temperature limit which is based on the average from 1910-2000.

In 2016, the Earth's temperature was recorded as 1.29 degrees Celsius warmer than the average for the reference year period. Global temperatures in 2016 were largely influenced by the strong El Nino conditions that occurred at the start of the year.

The temperature increase in 2016 has caused numerous disasters in several countries. According to the National Center for Environmental Information and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there were 15 weather-related events and climate instability in the United States, including droughts, large forest fires in California, floods and storms, and tropical cyclones.

As for other areas affected, such as extreme hot temperatures in the Arctic, the development of heat waves off the coast of Alaska and Australia, and also the severe El Nino conditions that hit the Asian region in the 2015-2016 period.

In 2016 Indonesia was not left behind by the increase in temperature which was exacerbated by El Nino. At that time, according to BMKG, temperature conditions in Indonesia increased by 0.6 degrees Celsius from the average temperature in 1991-2000.

The increase in temperature and worsened by El Nino is one of the triggers for forest fires in Indonesia (Kompas.id, 19/5/2023). The impact of increasing temperatures also results in dry agricultural land resulting in crop failure. Apart from that, the impact was also felt by marine biota, namely damaged corals.

Hot weather and rising temperatures in 2023

The phenomenon of temperature increase continues up to the present time. The Global Climate Highlights 2023 report by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Union on January 9, 2024 mentioned that the temperature in 2023 was 1.48 degrees Celsius warmer than the average during the pre-industrial era of 1850-1900.

This condition cannot be separated from the transition from La Nina toEl Ninowhich appeared in mid-2023. As a result, many regions of the world were hit by extreme heat, such as Southern Europe and North Africa in July 2023.

Also read: The Earth is No Longer Warming, but Starting to Boil

In the Italian region, temperatures can reach up to 48.2 degrees Celsius. In Tunisia, temperatures have even touched 49 degrees Celsius. And in the regions of Morocco and Algeria, temperatures reached 50.4 degrees Celsius and 49.2 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The rise in temperature in 2023 also triggered massive wildfires in Canada. As of October 2023, there were 6,132 wildfires that burned down 16.5 million hectares of forest area in Canada (Government of Canada, 8/9/2023). Large wildfires also occurred in Hawaii, USA, which killed 80 people triggered by the summer season and drought (Kompas.id, 13/8/2023).

Indonesia will also experience fire disasters in 2023. From September 2023 to October 2023, at least 267,000 hectares of land were hit by fires with 6,659 hot spots. The number of hot spots has increased compared to 2022 with 1,128 hot spots. The fire was also triggered by the peak of El Nino which occurred in September (Kompas.id, 3/10/2023).

It is no surprise that 2023 is predicted to be the hottest year since 1850. The hot temperatures are forecasted by the Copernicus Climate Change Service to continue until 2024. One of the causes is the ongoing El Nino phenomenon.

In Indonesia, some areas will still experience hot weather in the coming days. BMKG has monitored the highest temperature in Indonesia in the last week (28/4/2024), reaching 37.3 degrees Celsius.

Also read: Hot Temperature Hits Indonesia, Highest in Deli Serdang

The BMKG noted that the average temperature in Indonesia in March 2024 reached 27.43 degrees Celsius. This average temperature is above the normal average of the period 1991-2020, which is 26.85 degrees Celsius.

As for the average temperature in April 2024, it was recorded at 27.74 degrees Celsius (BMKG, 6/5/2024). The temperature anomaly in April 2024 was recorded as the highest (0.89 degrees Celsius) since 1981. (LITBANG KOMPAS)

Also read: 2023 Hot Record Driven Partly by Mysterious Process