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Intense, Widespread Drought Grips South America

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Insufficient rainfall in 2023-2024 has taken a toll on the region’s rivers and groundwater and upended daily life in several countries.

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Dr. Cecilia Scorza und Prof. Dr. Harald Lesch: „Klima 2024 - kippt nun alles?“

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Global methane emissions 1990-2021 | Statista

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Global methane (CH₄) emissions reached a high of 10.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO₂e) in 2021.

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Understanding methane emissions – Global Methane Tracker 2024 – Analysis - IEA

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Global Methane Tracker 2024 - Analysis and key findings. A report by the International Energy Agency.

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Climate Change Institute, University of Maine

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Sea surface temperature (SST) data visualizations

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Ermitteln Sie Ihren persönlichen ökologischen Fussabdruck und lassen Sie sich von individuellen Tipps inspirieren.

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Dr. Mark Benecke's Official Youtube Channel

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Time is up: Herbst/Winter 2024 🍂 Die neuesten Zahlen 🔬

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Dr. Mark Benecke's Official Youtube Channel

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Auffallend starke Umwelt-Veränderungen: 'Time is up' 🌨️ Winter 2024

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Zeit die Scheuklappen abzunehmen!Jede und jeder muss mithelfen. 2023 war vermutlich das wärmste Jahr seit 125.000 Jahren! Update März 2024 Der CO2-Gehalt in der Atmosphäre ist auf einem Rekord-Hoch. Die 1,5 Grad Grenze ist bereits gerissen. Die Luft- und Wassertemperaturen steigen rasant an. Der Niederschlag nimmt immer stärker ab. Die Artenvielfalt sinkt. Die Wälder brennen.Alle […]

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Climate Reanalyzer/University of Maine: Chart: Axios Visuals

Zoom in: Conditions at sea have affected the weather on land, worsening flooding rains in Los Angeles, San Francisco, the East Coast of the U.S. and other parts of the world.

They have also brought damaging marine heat waves to the ocean, devastating marine ecosystems from the North Atlantic Basin to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Unusually mild ocean and air temperatures were, to some extent, expected in 2023 due to the development of a strong El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

Such events typically feature unusually warm waters in the equatorial tropical Pacific, and can transfer more heat into the atmosphere as well.

Yes, but: The spike in global temperatures seen during 2023, which has continued into 2024, has been unexpected in its magnitude, persistence and geographic extent.

El Niño simply cannot explain all of it, scientists told Axios.

The intrigue: "I do not have any solid explanations for it," Brian McNoldy, a senior researcher at the University of Miami in Florida, told Axios in an email, regarding the record warm sea surface temperatures.

"I would say that I'm just a shocked observer like so many others. It's not just that the global-average sea surface temperature has been record-breaking every single day... but it's the absurdly-large margins by which the records have been broken," he said.

McNoldy said that by late summer of 2023, global records fell by over 0.3°C (0.54°F). "Historically such records were broken only briefly by perhaps half of that margin."

He said El Niño helped, but was not the only culprit.

What's next: In addition, while there is day-to-day variability that offers fleeting glimpses of downward trends, there are no signs of a global ocean temperature cooldown anytime soon, even with a La Niña expected to develop in the tropical Pacific by the fall.

Between the lines: According to a comprehensive 2023 climate report released Tuesday by the World Meteorological Organization, a UN agency, the global ocean experienced an average daily marine heatwave coverage of 32% last year, beating the previous record of 23% in 2016.

Marine heat waves were particularly widespread in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, the WMO noted.

What they're saying: Commenting on 2023's global average surface temperature, which was nearly 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo stated: "Never have we been so close - albeit on a temporary basis at the moment - to the 1.5° C lower limit of the Paris Agreement on climate change."

"The WMO community is sounding the Red Alert to the world," Saulo said in a statement.
Go deeper: Scientists "uneasy" about Earth's sped-up warming Data: Global warming may be accelerating ​​February is continuing Earth's record warm streak Editor's note: This story has been updated with details of the WMO's new climate report.

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"Red Alert to the world": Record warmth in global oceans hits one-year mark

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Climate scientists have not yet explained why ocean temperatures have skyrocketed.