Every major global climate record was broken last year and 2024 could be worse, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Tuesday, with its chief voicing particular concern about ocean heat and shrinking sea ice.
The United Nations (UN) weather agency said in its annual State of the Global Climate report that average temperatures hit the highest level in 174 years of record-keeping by a clear margin, reaching 1.45 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Ocean temperatures also reached the warmest in 65 years of data with more than 90 per cent of the seas having experienced heatwave conditions during the year, the WMO said, harming food systems.
“The WMO community is sounding the red alert to the world,” said WMO secretary general Celeste Saulo, who took over the job in January.
How a hotter world is affecting Ireland in five graphics
An Irishwoman sailing around the world: ‘This paradise has just seven residents and two dogs’
Ticks, respiratory illnesses, skin cancer and poorer mental health ‘all on the rise due to climate change’
Eamon Ryan: ‘If Labour and Soc Dems were ambitious on climate, they’d be going into government’
“What we witnessed in 2023, especially with the unprecedented ocean warmth, glacier retreat and Antarctic sea ice loss, is cause for particular concern.”
Ms Saulo later told reporters that ocean heat was particularly concerning because it was “almost irreversible”, possibly taking millenniums to reverse.
“The trend is really very worrying and that is because of the characteristics of water that keep heat content for longer than the atmosphere,” Ms Saulo said.
Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, coupled with the emergence of the natural El Nino climate pattern, pushed the world into record territory in 2023.
WMO's head of climate monitoring, Omar Baddour, told reporters there was a “high probability” that 2024 would set new heat records, saying that the year after an El Nino was typically warmer still.
Tuesday’s report showed a big plunge in Antarctic sea ice, with the peak level measured at one million km2 below the previous record – an area roughly equivalent to the size of Egypt.
That trend, combined with ocean warming which causes water to expand, has contributed to a more than doubling of the rate of sea-level rise over the past decade compared with the 1993-2002 period, it said.
Ocean heat was concentrated in the North Atlantic with temperatures an average 3 degrees above average in late 2023, the report said. Warmer ocean temperatures affect delicate marine ecosystems and many fish species have fled north from this area seeking cooler temperatures.
Ms Saulo, a meteorologist from Argentina who has promised to strengthen global warning systems for climate disasters, said she hoped the report would raise awareness of the “vital need to scale up the urgency and ambition of climate action”.
[ Only seven countries meet WHO air quality standard, report findsOpens in new window ]
“That’s why we spoke about the red alert because we must care for the people and how they will suffer from these more frequent, more extreme events,” Ms Saulo said. “If we do nothing, things will become worse and that will be our responsibility.” – Reuters