GENEVA: 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 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 Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Ocean temperatures also reached the warmest in 65 years of data with over 90 percent 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.
“What we witnessed in 2023, especially with the unprecedented ocean warmth, glacier retreat and Antarctic sea ice loss, is cause for particular concern.”
She later told reporters that ocean heat was particularly concerning because it was “almost irreversible”, possibly taking millennia 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,” she 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.
The agency said it had concerns following those 20 crashes as well as results from preliminary NHTSA tests of updated...
China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Teodoro’s comments outside...
Ukrainian authorities said one energy worker was hurt overnight
China’s Jiangsu was hit by a violent tornado which killed 10 people after torrential rain lashed China’s southeast
Prime Minister Albanese said he would be part of a rally in the national capital Canberra on Sunday
In body camera video released on Thursday by the Canton Police Department, officers are seen apprehending the man