Although March 2022 was colder than average in Europe, globally it was the fifth warmest March on record, with a temperature around 0.4 degrees above average - the Arctic experienced the fourth warmest March. documented so far, while Antarctica has broken daily records for maximum temperature with the second lowest sea ice extent in 44 years of satellite recordings.
This was announced by the latest Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) bulletin, implemented by the European Center for Medium-Term Meteorological Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission with EU funding.
Precisely in the Old Continent, the month just ended was the third coldest March in the last 10 years, with a temperature 0.4 degrees below the average.
However, the bulletin notes "a contrast in temperature anomalies in Europe, with warmer-than-average conditions in the north and colder-than-average conditions in the south," which extended to northern Africa and Russia.
Abnormal hot conditions have been recorded across much of the Arctic and Antarctic.
Antarctic sea ice extent was 26% below the 1991-2020 average, with large areas of below-average sea ice concentration in the Ross, Amundsen and Northern Weddell Seas.
Arctic sea ice extent was 3% below average, continuing the trend of below-average, but not particularly low, extent observed since July 2021.
All the findings reported in the Copernicus monthly bulletin are based on computer-generated analyzes using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, planes and weather stations around the world.