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07/11/22 13:18 PM IST

2015 to 2022 Likely To Be 8 Warmest Years On Record: WMO Report

In News 
  • The global mean temperature in 2022 is estimated to be 1.15 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) average, likely making the eight years from 2015 the warmest on record, the World Meteorological Organisation said in a report.
Major Findings 
  • The past two-and-a-half years account for 10 per cent of the overall rise in sea level since satellite measurements started nearly 30 years ago, the report stated.
  • “The global mean temperature so far in 2022 has been 1.15 degree Celsius above the 1850-1900 average.
  • If the current anomaly continues to the end of the year, the analysis would place 2022 as either the fifth or sixth warmest year on record (from 1850).
Rise in Sea Level 
  • The rate of sea level rise has doubled in the past 30 years. Although still measured in terms of millimetres per year, it adds up to half to one meter per century and that is a long-term and a major threat to millions of coastal dwellers and low-lying states.
  • With global warming increasing the rate of ice melt, the global mean sea level has risen by an estimated 3.4 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 the sea level increased by about 5 mm between January 2021 and August 2022, the report said.
  • Since January 2020, the global mean sea level has risen by nearly 10 mm, approximately 10 per cent of the overall rise in sea level since satellite measurements began in 1993.
Melting of Glaciers 
  • Warming rates have been especially high in the past two decades.
  • It is expected that it will continue to warm in the future – a change which is irreversible on centennial to millennial time scales.
  • 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 per cent 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.
About WTO 
  • The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 192 Member States and Territories.
  • India is a member of WMO.
  • It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was established after the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress.
  • Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23rd March 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.’
  • WMO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Source- The Hindu 

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