The global mean temperature in 2022 is estimated to be 1.15 degrees Celsius (± 0.13°C) above pre-industrial levels, with the last eight years being the warmest on record, the World Meteorological Organisation said in a report on Sunday.
The report, WMO Provisional State of the Global Climate 2022, was released on a day that over 100 leaders and heads of states made way to the UN Climate Conference (COP27) in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh.
“The greater
The global mean temperature in 2022 is estimated to be 1.15 degrees Celsius (± 0.13°C) above pre-industrial levels, with the last eight years being the warmest on record, the World Meteorological Organisation said in a report on Sunday.
The report, WMO Provisional State of the Global Climate 2022, was released on a day that over 100 leaders and heads of states made way to the UN Climate Conference (COP27) in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh.
“The greater the warming, the worse the impacts,” WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said in a statement on Sunday, warning that the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is so high that the “lower 1.5°C (target) of the Paris Agreement is barely within reach”.
Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are at record levels in the atmosphere as emissions continue, with the annual increase in methane the highest on record, the report said.
The rate of sea level rise has doubled since 1993 and has risen by nearly 10mm since January 2020 to a new record high this year. The past two-and-a-half years account for 10% of the overall rise in sea level since satellite measurements started nearly 30 years ago, the report stated.
The Alps lost an average 4 metres in height shattering records of glacier melting in 2022, with even the Greenland ice sheet witnessing rainfall at the 3,200m-high summit, the report said. The Antarctic sea-ice area fell to its lowest level on record. In Switzerland, 6% of the glacier ice volume was lost between 2021 and 2022.
“It’s already too late for many glaciers and the melting will continue for hundreds if not thousands of years, with major implications for water security. The rate of sea level rise has doubled in the past 30 years. Although we still measure this in terms of millimetres per year, it adds up to half to one metre per century and that is a long-term and major threat to many millions of coastal dwellers and low-lying states,” Taalas said.
The global mean temperature in 2021 was around 1.11°C (± 0.13°C) above the 1850–1900 pre-industrial average.
“The global mean temperature so far in 2022 has been 1.15 °C above the 1850-1900 average. If the current anomaly continues to the end of the year, the analysis would place 2022 as either the fifth or sixth warmest year on record (from 1850), and in each case marginally warmer than 2021. The eight years — 2015 to 2022 — are likely to be the eight warmest years on record,” the report read.
The figures used in the provisional report are till the end of September this year; the final report will be published in April next year.
Despite La Niña conditions keeping the global temperature low for the second consecutive year, 2022 is still most likely to be the fifth or sixth warmest year on record, the WMO said. However, this does not reverse the long-term trend; it is only a matter of time until there is another warmest year on record, it added.
The 10-year average for the period 2013-2022 is estimated to be 1.14°C above the pre-industrial baseline. This compares with 1.09°C from 2011 to 2020, as estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment report.
La Nina refers to the large-scale cooling of surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, coupled with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation (winds), pressure and rainfall. It occurs every two to seven years. In India, La Nina is associated with strong monsoon and above average rains and colder winters.
Global warming wreaked havoc this year with a deadly spring heatwave in India and Pakistan; floods in Pakistan that killed over 1700 people along with 936,000 livestock; in Bangladesh, the worst floods in 20 years affected 7.2 million people. In Cox’s Bazar, heavy rains affected nearly 60,000 refugees and triggered secondary displacement, the report said.
Across the East Africa region, under the effects of the drought and other shocks, an estimated 18.4 to 19.3 million people have faced food crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity before June 2022. China also had the most extensive and long-lasting heatwave since national records began, extending from mid-June to the end of August and resulting in the hottest summer on record by a margin of more than 0.5°C.
“The pre-monsoon period was exceptionally hot in India and Pakistan. Pakistan had its hottest March and hottest April on record. The heat caused a decline in crop yields. This combined with the banning of wheat exports and restrictions on rice exports in India are threatening the international food markets and posing risks to countries already affected by shortages of staple foods,” the official release said on Sunday.
“There was also significant flooding in India at various stages during the monsoon season, particularly in the north-east in June, with over 700 deaths reported during the season from flooding and landslides, and a further 900 from lightning. Floods also triggered 663 000 displacements in the Indian state of Assam,” it added.
Experts, meanwhile, also expressed concern over marine heatwaves, particularly those in the region surrounding the Indian subcontinent.
“I am concerned about one of the least explored extreme event, the marine heatwaves. The WMO report says that 55% of the ocean surface experienced at least one MHW during 2022. The accompanying figure shows that the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, surrounding the Indian subcontinent, is one of the regions that has been severely hit by MHWs.
Our research shows that MHWs are intensifying in the Indian Ocean, and this could have potential impacts on the fisheries and the marine ecosystem. However, we need in-depth research and data to investigate how these heatwaves are impacting the fish species considering their tolerance levels, migration, and dietary habits. MHWs are also intensifying cyclones and altering monsoon rainfall patterns. Hence, we need to keep monitoring these events and explore the possibility of forecasting MHWs,” said Roxy Mathew Koll, scientist, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.
Regions with a marked rainfall deficit included: Europe, Central Asia, Northern Australia, Eastern Africa, most of North Africa, central and southern South America, and central and western North America.
Change is happening with catastrophic speed, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres said, calling the climate crisis an existential threat.
“As the WMO shows so clearly, change is happening with catastrophic speed — devastating lives and livelihoods on every continent… People and communities everywhere must be protected from the immediate and ever-growing risks of the climate emergency. That is why we are pushing so hard for universal early warning systems within five years. We must answer the planet’s distress signal with action — ambitious, credible climate action. COP27 must be the place — and now must be the time,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
One Subscription.
Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines
to 100 year archives.
Archives
HT App & Website