WMO’s World Climate Report 2024 was the first calendar year above 1.5°C since the pre-industrial era, with an average of 1850-1900 of 1.55±0.13°C above 1.55±0.13°C, confirming temperatures close to the world average. This is the warmest year in 175 observational records.
WMO’s flagship report showed:
- The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is [sic] The highest level in the past 800,000 years.
- Over the past decade, each individually has been a record 10 years.
- Each of the past eight years has set new records of marine heat.
- All 18 Arctic Ocean Ice extremes on record have been in the past 18 years.
- Over the past three years there have been three lowest Antarctic ice ranges.
- Up to three years of loss of glacial mass on record occurred in the past three years.
- Since satellite measurements began, the rate of sea level rise has doubled.
“While our planet is issuing more pain signals, this report shows that it is still possible to limit long-term global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees. Leaders must step up to achieve that. With this new national climate plan, they must seize the benefits of cheap, clean renewable energy.”
“Warming above 1.5°C does not indicate that the long-term temperature targets of the Paris Agreement are out of reach, but they are awakening calls to increase the risks of our lives, our economy and our planet,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Sauro.
The report states that long-term global warming is currently estimated to be between 1.34 and 1.41°C compared to the baseline of the 1850-1900 based on a variety of methods.
The WMO team of international experts is taking this further into consideration to ensure consistent and reliable tracking with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Regardless of the methodology used, almost all of the degree of warming is important, increasing the risks and costs of society.
The record global temperatures seen in 2023 and broken in 2024 are primarily due to a continuous increase in greenhouse gas emissions, combined with the transition from cooling La Niña to El Niño’s warming events. Reports suggest that several other factors, such as changes in solar cycle, large-scale volcanic eruptions and reduced cooling aerosols, may contribute to unexpectedly unusual temperature jumps.
Temperatures are just a small part of a much larger picture.
“Data for 2024 shows that our oceans continue to warm and rise in sea levels. The frozen parts of the Earth’s surface are melting at an astonishing rate. Glaciers continue to retreat, while extreme weather continues to break down into the world.
Tropical cyclones, floods, droughts and other dangers in 2024 have led to the highest number of new displacements recorded in the last 16 years, contributing to the worsening food crisis and causing massive economic losses.
“In response, WMO and the global community are stepping up efforts to strengthen early warning systems and climate services to help decision makers and society become more resilient to extreme weather and climates. We need to make even more progress and go faster.”
Investing in weather, water and climate services is more important than ever to address challenges and build safer and more resilient communities, she stressed.
The report is based on scientific contributions from the National Weather and Hydrological Services, the WMO Regional Climate Centre, United Nations Partners and numerous experts. It includes a sidebar to monitor the global temperature of the Paris Agreement and to understand the temperature anomalies in 2023 and 2024. Includes climate service and extreme weather supplements.
This is one of a series of WMO science reports that seek to inform decisions. It was published previously World Weather Day March 23rd, World Water Day March 22nd World Glacier Day March 21st.
Important metrics
Atmospheric carbon dioxide
Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, as well as methane and nitrous oxide, are at the highest levels in the past 800,000 years.
The carbon dioxide concentration in 2023 (last year when integrated global annual figures are available) was 420.0 ± 0.1 part (ppm), 2.3 ppm over 2022, 151% (1750) of the pre-industrial level. 420 ppm is equivalent to 3,276 gt or 3.276 tons of Co2 in the atmosphere.
Real-time data from specific locations show that levels of these three major greenhouse gases continued to increase in 2024. Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for generations, trapping heat.
World average temperature near the surface
In addition to setting up a new record in 2024, the last decade of 2015 to 2024 have been a warm year of 10 on record.
Record temperatures for 2024 were boosted by the powerful El Niño, which peaked at the beginning of the year. Monthly and monthly average global temperatures from June 2023 to December 2024 exceeded all monthly records prior to 2023.
Record levels of greenhouse gases were the main drivers, with a smaller shift to El Nino.
Ocean heat
Approximately 90% of the energy trapped in the Earth’s greenhouse gases is stored in the ocean.
In 2024, marine heat levels reached the highest level in 1965 observation records. Each of the past eight years has set up a new record. The rate of marine warming over the past 20 years from 2005 to 2024 was more than twice the rate from 1960 to 2005.
Ocean warming leads to degradation of marine ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, and reduced marine carbon subsidence. It is fueled by tropical storms and contributes to rising sea levels. It is irreversible on the 100th anniversary to thousand years of time scale. Climate forecasts show that ocean warming will continue, even in low-carbon emission scenarios, at least for the rest of the 21st century.
Ocean acidification
Sea level acidification continues, as shown by a steady decline in the global average sea level pH. The most severe regional declines are in the Indian Ocean, the southern seas, the Eastern Equatorial Pacific, the North Tropical Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.
The effects of marine acidification on habitat regions, biodiversity and ecosystems have already been clearly observed, and food production from shellfish farming and fisheries has been hit just as hard as coral reefs.
The forecast shows that ocean acidification will continue to increase in the 21st century at a rate dependent on future emissions. The pH changes in deep seas are irreversible on a time scale from 100th anniversary to 100th year.
Global average sea level
In 2024, global average sea level was the highest since the launch of satellite records in 1993, with the rate of increase from 2015 to 2024 doubled from 1993 to 2002, increasing from 2.1 mm per year to 4.7 mm per year.
Sea level rise has a damaging effect on coastal ecosystems and infrastructure, and further impacts from flooding and groundwater salt contamination.
Glacier mass balance
The 2022-2024 period represents the most negative 3 years of glacial mass balance on record. Seven of the 10 minimum mass balance years since 1950 have occurred since 2016.
Very negative mass balance was experienced in Norway, Sweden, Svalbad and the Tropical Andes.
Glacier retreats increase short-term risks, harm the economy and ecosystems, and increase long-term water safety.
Sea ice range
All 18 lowest Arctic Ocean Ice ranges in the satellite record have occurred in the past 18 years. The annual minimum and maximum values for the Antarctic Sea ice range were the second lowest in 1979 observational records, respectively.
The minimum daily range of sea ice in the Arctic in 2024 was 4.28 million km2, the seventh lowest range in the 1946 satellite record. In Antarctica, the second lowest lowest single day minimum range of the satellite-aged satellite-era marked the third consecutive year when the minimum Antarctic sea ice range fell below 2 million km2. These are the lowest Antarctic ice minimums on satellite records.
Extreme events and impacts
The extreme weather phenomenon of 2024 has resulted in the highest number of new annual displacements since 2008, destroying homes, critical infrastructure, forests, farmland and biodiversity.
The complex effects of various shocks, including intensifying conflict, droughts and high domestic food prices, had driven a worsening food crisis in 18 countries around the world by mid-2024.
Tropical cyclones were the cause of many of the best impact events of 2024. These included typhoon Yagi in Vietnam, the Philippines and southern China.
In the US, Hurricane Helen and Milton landed on Florida’s west coast in October, causing economic losses of tens of millions of dollars. Since Katrina in 2005, it has been the most common hurricane in the continental United States, with over 200 deaths associated with extremely rainy rain from Helen and flooding.
Tropical cyclontides caused casualties and economic losses in Mayotto, Mozambique and Malawi, the French Indian Ocean Islands. In Mozambique, they have driven out about 100,000 people.
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