Human activity has raised the planet's temperature to its highest level in at least the last 12,000 years, according to new research published in the journal *Nature*.

Researchers at a university in USA They recorded the changes in ocean surface temperatures and concluded that it is possible that Earth to experience the highest average temperature even in the last 125,000 years, entering «uncharted waters,» as they point out.

Scientific research is set to solve the mystery that has puzzled experts for decades and concerns its temperature A brand-new season. Climate models of the past show continuous global warming since the last ice age ended 12,000 years ago, marking the beginning of the Holocene epoch.

However, temperature estimates based on fossils indicated that temperatures peaked approximately 6,000 years ago, around 4,000 B.C., followed by a cooling trend until the start of the Industrial Revolution, which caused carbon dioxide emissions to skyrocket.

This problem undermined the reliability of climate models and fossil evidence. However, it has now been found that The data from the fossilized shells correspond to the hottest summers, but they do not reflect the drop in temperature during cold winters, misleading researchers into thinking that average annual temperatures are higher.

«We demonstrate that The planet's average annual temperature has risen over the past 12,000 years, », "in contrast to previous results," said the Samantha Bova, head of research at Rutgers University.

«This means that the current period of human-induced global warming is accelerating a long-term rise in temperatures, making our era uncharted territory, which underscores just how seriously we must take the situation,» added Ms. Bova.

It should also be noted that our current era may be the warmest of the past 125,000 years, dating back to the interglacial period. However, scientists are not yet able to say for certain, as they do not have sufficient data for that period.