STATE OF THE GLOBAL CLIMATE 2022 – REPORT AND INDICES
News: UN
reports 'off the charts' melting of glaciers
What's in the news?
● The
world's glaciers melted at dramatic speed last year and saving them is
effectively a lost cause, the United Nations reported as climate change
indicators once again hit record highs.
Released by: World Meteorological
Organization
Key takeaways of the Report:
1. Rising concentration of GHGs:
● The
UN's World Meteorological Organization said the last eight years have been the
warmest ever recorded, while concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon
dioxide hit new peaks.
● The
concentration of carbon dioxide
(CO2) reached 415.7 parts per million globally, or 149% of the pre-industrial
(1750) level, while methane reached
262% and nitrous oxide hit 124%.
2. Rising sea levels:
● Sea
levels are also at a record high, having risen by an average of 4.62
millimetres per year between 2013 and 2022 - double the rate it was between 1993 and 2002.
● Antarctic
sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European
glaciers was, literally, off the charts.
3. Rising temperature:
● The global mean
temperature in 2022 was 1.15°C above the 1850-1900 average.
● Record
global mean temperatures over the past eight years came despite the cooling
impact of a drawn-out La Nina weather phenomenon that stretched over nearly
half that period.
● Record
high temperatures were recorded in the oceans - where around 90% of the heat
trapped on Earth by greenhouse gases ends up.
4. Glacier melt:
● The
world's reference glaciers - those for which long-term observations exist - saw
an average thickness loss of more than 1.3 metres between October 2021 and
October 2022 - a loss much larger than the average over the last decade.
● In
Europe, the Alps smashed records for
glacier melt due to a combination of little winter snow, an intrusion of
Saharan dust in March 2022 and heatwaves between May and early September.
● Many
of these mountain glaciers will disappear, and also the shrinking of the Antarctic and Greenland glaciers will continue for
a long-term basis - unless we create a means to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
Go back to basics:
About Paris agreement:
● It
is a multinational agreement that
was signed as part of the UNFCCC with the intention of reducing and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
● The
2015 Paris Agreement on climate change saw countries agree to cap global
warming at "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
above levels measured between 1850 and 1900 – and 1.5C if possible.
World Meteorological Organisation (WMO):
● WMO
was established in 1950 and is the specialized
agency of the UN for meteorology (weather and climate), operational
hydrology and related geophysical sciences.
Headquarters:
Geneva, Switzerland
Members:
● It
is an intergovernmental organisation with 193 members.
● India
is a member of WMO.
Reports:
● State
of Climate Report
● Greenhouse
Gas Bulletin Report