Copernicus Climate Change Service, the climate monitoring agency of the European Union (EU), reported that the El Nino weather event, which increased in intensity, broke the temperature record in a key region of the Pacific Ocean in September.
In its statement today, the institution noted that this record is a new sign that the weather pattern in question has reached extraordinary strength.
Global weather forecasters have been warning for months that this El Nino could turn into the strongest natural event ever observed.
The latest temperature record was recorded even before the natural event's peak, which is expected to reach later this year.
El Niño, which forms the warming phase of a natural climate cycle, raises seawater temperatures in the tropical Pacific. This triggers weather changes that increase the risk of drought and flood, while also aggravating the effects of human-induced global warming.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that the sea surface temperature in the monitoring area known as Nino3.4, which is considered an indicator of El Nino in the Pacific Ocean, reached an "all-time high" last month, reaching 29.70 degrees.
The EU monitoring agency stated that this value exceeded the peak temperatures of the strong El Nino periods of 1982-1983, 1997-1998 and 2015-2016, and stated that the current picture "reveals the extraordinary severity of the current El Nino".
However, Copernicus said in his statement to the French news agency AFP that "they cannot yet say that the current El Niño is the strongest event ever recorded."
Recent El Niño events may appear stronger than those experienced in the past as climate change increases ocean temperatures. This effect makes historical comparisons between different periods difficult.
Announcing that it has adopted a new index that takes into account the warming in tropical oceans, Copernicus stated that, according to this new calculation method, the current event is not yet stronger than past examples.
But the agency told AFP that values measured in September "already indicate an exceptionally strong El Nino, especially considering that the event has not yet reached its peak."
At the United Nations (UN) climate negotiations held in Paris in 2015, world states reached an agreement to keep global warming "well below" pre-industrial levels, at a maximum of 2 degrees, and to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees in order to limit the devastating effects of the climate crisis.
However, in its official announcement in September, the UN announced that the long-term 1.5 degree target would be exceeded within a few years.
In his written statement on the subject, Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said, "We are in a new series of months in which temperatures exceed 1.5 degrees, and it seems likely that this situation will continue until 2027 due to the strong El Niño, which is still increasing its intensity."
Buontempo said, "It is only a matter of time before the long-term limit of the Paris Agreement is exceeded. How far we will exceed the limit and how long this situation will last is still in our hands."
Scientists state that it is vital to quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels in order to narrow the "overshoot" period above 1.5 degrees and bring temperatures back down as quickly as possible.
Experts warn that this developing El Nino could push global temperatures to a new historical record level in 2027.
El Niño, which generally occurs every 2 to 7 years and lasts approximately 9 to 12 months, warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, causing widespread changes in wind, pressure and precipitation patterns around the world.
