WMO
REPORT - REPORTS & INDICES
News:
WMO report out: 6 charts
that tell you everything about the health of our planet
What's
in the news?
●
The new annual State of the Climate report, published by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) found that 2023 was the
hottest year on record.
Key
takeaways:
●
Numerous records for indicators of the
climate system, including greenhouse gas levels (GHGs), surface temperatures,
ocean heat, sea level rise, Antarctic Sea ice cover, glacier retreat, etc.,
were broken, the report added.
Greenhouse
Gases:
●
The unprecedented levels of GHGs in the
atmosphere are the main culprit behind the rapid warming of the planet.
●
Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous
oxide trap the incoming solar radiation in the atmosphere and contribute to
global warming.
●
The concentration of aforementioned GHGs
reached record-high observed levels in 2022 — the latest year for which
consolidated global values are available (1984–2022) — according to the WMO
report.
Surface
Temperature:
●
The global
average near surface temperature for 2023 spiked to 1.45 degree Celsius — the highest ever on record — above the
pre-industrial levels.
●
Although the rise in GHG concentrations in
the atmosphere is the primary reason for soaring global temperatures, the onset
of El Niño last year also contributed to the increase in mercury.
○
El
Niño
refers to an abnormal warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific
Ocean.
○
It increased the likelihood that
temperature records would be broken, and there would be more extreme heat in
many parts of the world and the ocean.
Ocean
Heat Content:
●
As the oceans have absorbed nearly 90 per cent of the extra heat trapped
by GHGs since 1971, they steadily become warmer and their heat content has
increased.
●
In 2023, the ocean heat content (OHC) — the total amount of heat stored by the
oceans — reached its highest level in the 65-year observational record,
according to the report.
Marine
Heat Waves (MHWs):
●
Due to warmer temperatures, the global
ocean experienced an average daily
marine heatwave (MHWs) coverage of 32%, well above the previous record of
23% in 2016, the report added.
●
MHWs occur when the surface temperature of
a particular region of the sea rises to 3 or 4 degree Celsius above the average
temperature for at least five days.
Antarctic
Sea-ice Content:
●
Antarctic sea-ice extent plummeted to 1.79
million sq.km in February 2023 — a new record low since the satellite era began
in 1979. The extent remained at a record low for the time of year from June
till early November, according to the WMO report.
●
“The annual maximum in September was 16.96
million sq.km, roughly 1.5 million sq.km below the 1991–2020 average and 1
million sq.km below the previous record low maximum,” the report said.
Glacier:
●
In the hydrological year 2022-2023, the global
set of reference glaciers suffered the largest loss of ice on record. Glaciers
in North America and Europe were particularly impacted.
●
According to the WMO report, the annual mass balance — the amount of
mass gained or lost by the glacier and expressed in metres of water equivalent
(m w.e.) — of the reference glaciers dropped to a new low in 2022-2023, which
was – 1.2 m w.e.
Further
Reference - WMO