In the European Alps, glacier melting records were broken last year. The drought in East Africa led to an unprecedented food crisis.
The last eight years have all been the hottest in the world’s recorded climate history, according to the report published by the UN World Meteorological Organization WMO new report (you switch to another service).
Researchers estimate that the world’s average temperature has already risen by 1.15 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.
The countries of the world have agreed that the climate should not warm more than 1.5 degrees. According to the researchers, staying on target is beginning to seem unlikely.
of the UN Secretary General by António Guterres according to the report describing the state of the climate tells about “climate chaos”, where the climate is changing at a catastrophic pace.
The seas are warming at a record speed
The report warns of the effect of global warming on the loss of glaciers, rising sea levels and record heat waves.
In the European Alps, glacier melting records were broken last year. On average, 3–4 meters of glacier thickness was lost in the entire mountain range, which is significantly more than in the previous record year, 2003.
Between 2001 and 2022, the volume of glaciers in Switzerland decreased by more than a third.
The accelerated melting of the ice is contributing to the rate of sea level rise, which has doubled since 1993. This year, the rise was a record 10 millimeters compared to January 2020. The rise in the last two and a half years alone accounts for 10 percent of the rise in the entire 30-year measurement history.
The warming of the seas has been particularly fast in the last two decades, and the development is expected to continue in the coming years as well. The upper layers of the oceans continued to warm to record levels in 2021.
Extreme temperatures were experienced in Europe
Weather extremes caused by warming have been seen all over the world. Record drought has been experienced in East Africa, which has had below-average rainfall for four consecutive rainy seasons. As a result of ongoing drought and other exacerbating factors, an estimated 18.4 to 19.3 million people were affected by the food crisis before last June.
In Pakistan, at least 1,700 people died and 33 million fell ill when record summer rainfall following a heatwave led to widespread flooding.
It was exceptionally hot and dry in the northern hemisphere this year. China experienced the widest and longest heat wave in recorded history and the second driest summer ever.
Extreme temperatures were also experienced in Europe. In Britain, for example, a new national record was set in July, when the temperature exceeded 40 degrees for the first time.
The heat led to drought and forest fires. The levels of European rivers such as the Rhine, Loire and Danube fell to critically low levels.
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