The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has stated in its annual report that 2023 has set a new record as the hottest year. The year has come close to the critical 1.5° Celsius mark over 12 months.
The trend has continued in the first two months of 2024. In India, 2023 marked the second warmest year since 1901.
The WMO on Tuesday revealed in its annual ‘State of Climate’ report that the global mean near-surface temperature in 2023 was 1.45 ± 0.12 degrees Celsius above the 1850–1900 average. This makes it the warmest year in 174 years since climate records were kept.
The report said that the past nine years, 2015 to 2023, were the nine warmest years on record.
Climate indicators
Alarmingly, 2023 broke records on all climate indicators, including greenhouse gas levels, ocean heat, sea level rise, Antarctica sea ice loss and glacier retreat.
The concentration of the three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide methane and nitrous oxide – which touched record highs in 2022 continued to rise in 2023.
“Never have we been so close – albeit on a temporary basis at the moment – to the 1.5° C limit of the Paris Agreement on climate change,” said WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo. Globally, efforts are being made to keep the global average temperature rise within the 1.5° C limit.
“Climate change is about much more than temperatures. What we witnessed in 2023, especially with the unprecedented ocean warmth, glacier retreat and Antarctic sea ice loss, is cause for particular concern,” she said.
In January, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the annual mean land surface air temperature over India was 0.65° Celsius during 2023, above the long-term average (1981-2010 period), making it the second warmest year on record. The highest warming in the country was observed in 2016 when the anomaly was 0.71° Celsius.
WMO’s report showed that the Antarctic sea ice extent was by far the lowest on record in 2023. The report also highlighted the extreme weather events that struck the world last year. It stated that the cyclone Mocha in May 2023 was one of the most severe ever seen in the Bay of Bengal.
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