On Sunday, Earth saw its warmest day on record globally since at least 1940, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service in Europe.

Threat level: “We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years,” Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said.

The big picture: The record, which exceeded the old milestone set last July, came in the middle of the planet’s hottest year yet since at least the pre-industrial era, and likely for at least 100,000 years before that.

• The past 13 months have been the warmest such period on record, and the oceans have been at record warm levels for 15-straight months.
• This is especially noteworthy because the planet’s oceans absorb about 90% of the trapped heat from the human-caused buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Zoom in: The new data is preliminary but reliable, according to Copernicus and outside researchers.

• The daily global average temperature hit 17.09°C (62.76°F) on July 21, which was just above the 17.08°C (62.74) recorded on July 6, 2023.
• The data comes from a technique known […]