Provisional State Of Global Climate Report 2022 : WMO
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released the provisional State of the Global Climate report, 2022.
Highlights of the Report:
- The concentrations of three main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and Nitrous oxide (NO2), were all at record highs in 2021.
- The emissions of methane, which is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in causing global warming, in fact, increased at the fastest pace ever.
- At the climate change conference in Glasgow, countries had pledged to cut global methane emissions by at least 30% by the year 2030.
- The global average temperature in 2022 is estimated to be about 1.15 °C above the 1850-1900 average.
- 2015 to 2022 are likely to be the eight warmest years on record.
- La Niña (a cooling of sea-surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean) conditions have dominated since late 2020 and are expected to continue until the end of 2022.
- Continuing La Niña has kept global temperatures relatively low for the past two years – albeit higher than the last significant La Niña in 2011.
- In the European Alps, glacier melt records were shattered in 2022.
- Average thickness losses of between 3 and over 4 metres were measured throughout the Alps, substantially more than in the previous record year 2003.
- In Switzerland, 6% of the glacier ice volume was lost between 2021 and 2022, according to initial measurements.
- For the first time in history, no snow outlasted the summer season even at the very highest measurement sites and thus no accumulation of fresh ice occurred.
- Global mean sea level has risen by an estimated 3.4 ± 0.3 mm per year over the 30 years (1993-2022) of the satellite altimeter record.
- The rate has doubled between 1993-2002 and 2013-2022 and sea level increased by about 5 mm between January 2021 and August 2022.
- The ocean stores around 90% of the accumulated heat from human emissions of greenhouse gases.
- The upper 2000m of the ocean continued to warm to record levels in 2021.
- Overall, 55% of the ocean surface experienced at least one marine heatwave in 2022.
- In contrast only 22% of the ocean surface experienced a marine cold spell. Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent, in contrast to cold waves.
- In East Africa, rainfall has been below average in four consecutive wet seasons, the longest in 40 years, with indications that the current season could also be dry.
- Record breaking rain in July and August, 2022 led to extensive flooding in Pakistan.
- The flooding came hard on the heels of an extreme heatwave in March and April in both India and Pakistan.
- Large parts of the northern hemisphere were exceptionally hot and dry.
- China had the most extensive and long-lasting heatwave since national records began and the second-driest summer on record.
- Large parts of Europe sweltered in repeated episodes of extreme heat.
- The United Kingdom saw a new national record on 19th July,2022 when the temperature topped more than 40°C for the first time.
