Temperatures off the charts, but more records are to come: WMO
Global sea surface temperatures reached a record high in May, June and July – and the warming El Niño weather pattern is only just getting started - experts at the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday.
Alarm bells have been at the UN agency in particular because of an “unprecedented peak” in sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic.
“The first week of July…could be considered as the warmest period or the warmest week ever recorded,” – with a global average temperature close to 17.24 degrees Celsius on 4 and 7 July, said Omar Baddour, Chief of Climate Monitoring at WMO.
The WMO expert added that daily June temperatures in the North Atlantic had been “dramatically high” compared to usual readings, while Antarctic sea ice levels reached their lowest extent for June since satellite observations began.
At a shocking 17 per cent below average, this year’s readings broke the June 2022 record by a substantial margin and represented “a really dramatic drop in the sea ice extent in the Antarctica” – some 2.6 million square kilometers of lost sea ice.
Michael Sparrow, Chief of WMO’s World Climate Research Programme, highlighted that “it really is completely unprecedented where this kind of reduction in sea ice that we have seen around the Antarctic. The Antarctic region is normally thought of being relatively stable, it is much colder than the Arctic. We’re used to seeing, these big reductions in the sea ice in the Arctic but not in the Antarctic.”
Beyond Antartica, the UN agency warned that the “marine heatwave” would also impact fisheries distribution and ocean ecosytems, with knock-on effects on the climate. It is not only the surface temperature of the water, but the whole ocean is becoming warmer and absorbing energy that will remain there for hundreds of years, explained WMO.
“When you have a tropical cyclone, everything is affected in the shores, including fisheries, but also including inland”, said Mr. Baddour. “With heavy precipitation that could lead to casualties, displacement of populations, and so on. So, if we say that it is a dramatic change, that also means dramatic likelihood of extreme weather and climate events.”
Just last week, WMO announced the onset of El Niño, characterized by a warming of the Pacific Ocean. Combined with man-made greenhouse gas effect, the weather pattern is expected to make one of the next five years the warmest on record.
The WMO officials told journalists in Geneva that “we are in uncharted territory and we can expect more records to fall as El Niño develops further”, with impacts extending into 2024.
“During El Niño year you get higher temperatures in the atmosphere as well, because heat is moving from the oceans to the atmosphere,” said Mr. Sparrow. “We are actually at the beginning of that process, so El Niño hasn’t had as much of an effect as it is going to later in the year. So, we’re seeing these high temperatures in the North Atlantic…despite the fact that El Niño hasn’t really got going yet. So, we can expect much higher temperatures from the El Niño in the latter half of the year, so around October and November time.”
According to the WMO’s Mr. Baddour, the warmest year is expected to be after this year, when El Niño 2023-2024 is expected to pick up and the weather reach a record year in 2024 if the strength of El Niño continues to develop in line with forecasts.
-ends-
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Committee hybrid press conference to present findings on Chile, Guyana, Indonesia, Namibia, Serbia, Somalia and the UK
2
1
3
Edited News , Press Conferences | HRC
Israel's "genocidal incitement" against Palestinians in Gaza transcends the scope of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory alleged on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR
Antonia Urrejola, international human rights expert appointed to identify and verify obstacles to the implementation of the Colombia 2016 Peace Agreement.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | FAO , HRC , OCHA , UNHCR , UNICEF , UNOG , WHO
Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Division of Administration, the Food and Agricultural Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , FAO , OCHA
A child dreaming of a slice of cucumber to eat and teenage girls saying they hope for death to “end their nightmare”: these are just some of the facets of the horror unfolding in Gaza, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNDP , UNECE , WHO
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives of the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Fund, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.