{"text":[[{"start":8.96,"text":"Global sea temperatures reached a record high for the month of July, while extreme heat drove droughts and wildfires in western Europe, as climate change is “playing out in front of our eyes”, scientists said."}],[{"start":21.04,"text":"“Severe” marine heatwaves affected parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and western Mediterranean, according to the Copernicus arm of the EU Earth observation service."}],[{"start":31,"text":"The average sea temperature for the extra-polar oceans reached 20.96C, surpassing the previous July record of 20.89C, set during the previous El Niño warming phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean in 2023. It also follows a record for the month of June."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":49.24,"text":"Michael Meredith, an ocean and climate scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, said sea temperatures were “deeply concerning”, as records were being regularly broken and marine heatwaves were becoming more widespread and more persistent."}],[{"start":63.42,"text":"“This is all what science predicts will happen as global warming progresses, but it’s startling to see it playing out in front of our eyes so readily.”"}],[{"start":71.6,"text":"While the beginnings of the El Niño effect in the equatorial Pacific region had added to the effect, “it is boosting an ever-increasing baseline caused by human-driven global warming”, he said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":81.612,"text":"The month of July also ranked as the joint-second warmest on record for global air temperatures, at an average of 16.9C, or 1.47C hotter than the pre-industrial era. This was tied with July 2024, and just behind the July 2023 record."}],[{"start":100.06,"text":"Western Europe experienced its hottest July on the books at 21.62C. The third consecutive month of exceptional heat in western Europe had brought the combined temperature for June and July to a new record for the region, said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts."}],[{"start":120.48,"text":"The heat had amplified the widespread drought, with surface soil moisture levels in western Europe significantly lower than in July 2022, the last summer with severe drought in the region."}],[{"start":132.08,"text":"“[Dry soils] lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily. This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another,” Burgess said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":144.378,"text":"The Copernicus data showed a stark divide across Europe, with air temperatures in France, Spain, England and Ireland notably higher than average in July."}],[{"start":153.883,"text":"Mark Maslin, a professor of earth system science at University College London, said he had “run out of expletives to describe the record-breaking weather we are seeing all around the world”. The UK is this week forecast to experience what would be its fifth heatwave this year, with the Met Office anticipating a peak of more than 36C in parts of south-east England."}],[{"start":176.4,"text":"“Despite us climate scientists screaming ‘fire!’ loudly for over 30 years we are still acting too slowly to save countless lives and livelihoods both in the UK and around the world,” he said."}],[{"start":189.68,"text":"The latest State of the Climate report published by the American Meteorological Society on Monday — with contributions from more than 600 scientists from 60 nations — concluded that greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reached a new record of 425.6 parts per million in 2025."}],[{"start":206.879,"text":"This was a 53 per cent increase in the industrial era. The rate of annual increase moderated slightly to 2.9 ppm in 2025, but remained substantially higher than the average increase from 2011 to 2020, it said, as a result of the burning of fossil fuels."}],[{"start":225.88,"text":"Richard Allan, climate science professor at the University of Reading, said cutting greenhouse gas emissions was the “only realistic way to limit the growing intensification of droughts, deluges and heatwaves on land and in the ocean that are already crystal clear in data”."}],[{"start":241.64,"text":"He added: “We are beyond the point of asking why weather extremes are intensifying — it is an obvious and expected response to the heating planet.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":251.32,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1786423938_9314.mp3"}