Photo: Tom Wang / Alamy
Global temperatures "smashed" heat records last year, as heatwaves stalked oceans and glaciers suffered record ice loss, the United Nations said on Tuesday – warning 2024 was likely to be even hotter.
The annual State of the Climate report by the UN Weather and Climate Agency confirmed preliminary data showing that 2023 was by far the hottest year ever recorded.
And last year capped off "the warmest 10-year period on record," the World Meteorological Organisation said, with even hotter temperatures expected.
"There is a high probability that 2024 will again break the record of 2023," WMO climate monitoring chief Omar Baddour told reporters.
Reacting to the report, UN chief Antonio Guterres said it showed "a planet on the brink."
"Earth's issuing a distress call," he said in a video message, pointing out that "fossil fuel pollution is sending climate chaos off the charts," and warning that "changes are speeding up,"
The WMO said that last year the average near-surface temperature was 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – dangerously close to the critical 1.5-degree threshold that countries agreed to avoid passing in the 2015 Paris Climate Accords.
Meanwhile, key glaciers worldwide suffered the largest loss of ice since records began in 1950, "driven by extreme melt in both western North America and Europe."
In Switzerland, where the WMO is based, Alpine glaciers lost 10 per cent of their remaining volume in the past two years alone, it said.
The Antarctic sea ice extent was also "by far the lowest on record," the WMO said.
The maximum area at the end of the southern winter was around one million square kilometres below the previous record year – equivalent to the size of France and Germany combined, according to the report.
Ocean warming and the rapidly melting glaciers and ice sheets drove the sea level last year to its highest point since satellite records began in 1993, WMO said.
However, WMO said that the "glimmer of hope" is from increasing renewable energy generation.
Source: AFP
聯合國機構警告地球“處於邊緣”，因為 2024 年可能會創下新的高溫記錄
聯合國天氣和氣候機構的年度氣候狀況報告證實了初步數據，顯示 2023 年是迄今為止有史以來最熱的一年。
世界氣象組織表示，去年結束了“有記錄以來最熱的十年”，預計氣溫會更高。
WMO氣候監測負責人奧馬爾·巴杜爾對記者表 示： “2024年很有可能再次打破2023年的記錄。”
聯合國秘書長安東尼奧古特雷斯對這份報告做出回應說，報告顯示「一顆行星處於邊緣」。
他在視訊訊息中表 示， “地球正在發出求救信號”，並指出“化石燃料污染正在導致氣候混亂”，並警告“變化正在加速”。
世界氣象組織表示，去年近地表平均氣溫比工業化前水準高出 1.45 攝氏度，危險地接近各國在 2015 年《巴黎氣候協定》中同意避免通過的 1.5 攝氏度臨界值。
同 時， “由於北美西部和歐洲的極端融化”，全球主要冰川遭受了自 1950 年有史以來最嚴重的冰損失。
報告稱，在世界氣象組織總部所在地瑞士，高山冰川僅在過去兩年就損失了剩餘體積的 10%。
世界氣象組織表示，南極海冰範圍也是「迄今為止最低的記錄」。 （法新社）世界氣象組織表示，南極海冰範圍也是「迄今為止最低的記錄」。
報告稱，南方冬季結束時的最大面積比前一年創紀錄的年份減少了約100萬平方公里，相當於法國和德國的面積總和。
世界氣象組織表示，海洋暖化以及冰川和冰蓋迅速融化，導致去年海平面達到1993年衛星記錄以來的最高點。
然而，世界氣象組織表示，「一線希望」來自再生能源發電的增加。
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