Australian climate scientist warns 2027 could set global temperature record

An Australian climate scientist has warned that a new global temperature record could be set in 2027, as sharply rising ocean surface temperatures coincide with the possible peak of an El Niño event. Andrea Taschetto, a researcher at the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Weather of the 21st Century, said current global ocean surface temperatures are extremely high, with May 2026 recorded as the warmest May since ocean surface temperature records began. Taschetto noted that the peak of an El Niño typically lifts the global average temperature, and that warming is also being observed in the equatorial North Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. She said a new global temperature record next year would not be surprising under those conditions. El Niño is a climate phenomenon in which tropical Pacific Ocean waters rise above natural averages, altering ocean-atmosphere interaction and producing weather disruptions worldwide. Taschetto did not provide a specific forecast figure or timeline for when any record might be broken.