Scientists are wondering whether global warming and El Nino accomplice in fueling this summer's record-breaking heatwave. The European climate agency Copernicus said July was one-third of a degree Celsius (six-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit) warmer. warmer than the old record This is a surge in heat that is so recent and so large, especially in the oceans and even more so in the North Atlantic, that scientists are divided on whether something else could be at work. Scientists agree that by far the biggest cause of recent extreme warming is climate change caused by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, which has triggered a long-term rising temperature trend. Natural El Nino, The temporary warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean, which is changing weather around the world, adds a minor boost. But some scientists say another factor must be at work. ((SETH BORENSTEIN, AP)