Warmest year on record: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Weather analysis
- Published
Sarah Keith-Lucas rounds up the extreme weather of 2023
Globally 2023 was the warmest year on record - at 1.48C above the pre-industrial baseline - it smashed the previous record set in 2016 by 0.17C. But how have other climate indicators changed over the past 12 months?
The 1.48 degrees of warming is perilously close to that threshold figure of 1.5C agreed at the Paris Agreement in 2015.
This graph shows how global temperature has risen since 1967
Most of the world's nations agreed to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C in order to prevent worsening and potentially irreversible effects of climate change. The past nine years, 2015 to 2023, are now the hottest nine on record.
The fact that 2023 has broken temperature records comes as no surprise to climate scientists as carbon dioxide levels hit an all-time high, and last year was also impacted by El Niño, which tends to add extra warmth to our atmosphere.
Record breaking ocean heat
It's not just the air temperature that broke records in 2023. The global sea surface temperature also reached record monthly peaks, with marine heatwaves occurring in all the world's oceans.
The village of Galesong in Indonesia's Takalar Regency was affected by rising sea levels and coastal abrasion
Sea level rise
As global temperatures continue to rise so do sea levels. The global sea level is now at its highest since satellite recording began in 1993. Sea levels are now more than 100mm higher than they were 30 years ago. The rate of rise over the past decade is double the rate during the first decade in the satellite era.
Rising sea levels are caused by a combination of expansion of warmer waters and the melting of ice sheets and glaciers.
Sea ice melt has accelerated during 2023
Melting sea ice
Sea ice surrounding both polar regions felt the impact of higher air and ocean temperatures during 2023. In Antarctica - which until recently had seen much less discernible impact from climate change, compared to the Arctic - the maximum sea ice extent in September was the lowest on record.
The red areas at the edge indicate where there is less sea ice than normal
Will 2024 be even hotter?
The full effects of this El Niño event will not be felt until later this year, and with greenhouse gas concentrations continuing their upward trend there is the potential for 2024 to follow 2023's footsteps - or even overtake it - in the growing list of very hot years since the turn of the century.
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- Published8 December 2023
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