In the annual climate report, the World Meteorological Organization confirmed that the period 2014-2023 has been recorded as the ‘hottest decade’ ever. In its report, WMO also confirmed that the year 2023 was by far the hottest year ever recorded. Ten warmest years, since 1850 have all occurred in the past decade. The year 2023 beats, the earlier warmest year 2016 by a margin of 0.15°C. Earth’s average land and ocean surface temperature in 2023 was 2.12°F ( 1.18°C) above the 20th century average. It exceeded the pre-industrial era by 1.35°C.
Earlier, December 2023 was recorded as the warmest December, when the global surface temperature was 1.43°C above the 20th century average. This was followed by January 2024, as the warmest January on record. Next, February 2024 completed the hat trick and became the hottest February by recording an average temperature of 1.40°C, above the 20th century average, beating 175 years of global climate records.
The WMO said the average near-surface temperature in 2023 was 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels and dangerously close to the critical 1.5°C threshold that countries agreed to avoid passing in the 2015 Paris climate records. Also, the marine heatwave gripped nearly a third of the global ocean on an average day, last year. The unprecedented ocean warmth, glacier retreat and Antarctic sea ice loss were the cause of concern too, last year. The continued ocean warming, combined with the rapidly melting glaciers and ice sheets also drove the sea level last year to its highest point since satellite records began in 1993.
Global warming is becoming a big concern for all the nations across the globe. And in an incident, the coastal city of Rio registered the highest temperature of all time. Rio de Janeiro experienced record-breaking heat waves with Guaratiba measuring 62.3°C, an all-time high mercury level. This record-breaking event adds to a pattern of high-temperature occurrences in Rio. Just last November, the temperature soared to 58.5°C, further emphasizing the city’s vulnerability to extreme heat.
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