State of the Global Climate 2022 report

• The State of the Global Climate 2022 report was recently released by World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• Annual report gives details of climate indicators such as temperatures, ocean heat, sea level rise, extreme weather etc.
• It complements the IPCC Sixth Assessment report.

Important highlights

• Global mean temperature in 2022 was 1.15°C above the 1850–1900 average.
• Years 2015 to 2022 were eight warmest on record despite cooling impact of a La Niña event for past three years.
• Concentrations of three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – reached record highs in 2021.
• Overall, 58% of ocean surface experienced at least one marine heatwave during 2022.
• Glaciers around the world are melting at an alarming rate, with reference glaciers showing an average decrease in thickness of over 1.3 meters between October 2021 and October 2022.
• Rate of global mean sea level rise has doubled between 1993-2002 (2.27 mm∙yr-) and 2013-2022 (4.62 mm∙yr).
• The Antarctic sea ice reached a record low of 1.92 million km2 on February 25, 2022, which is almost 1 million km2 less than the long-term (1991-2020) average.

Socio-economic and environmental impacts

• Heatwaves in 2022 pre-monsoon season in India and Pakistan caused a decline in crop yields.
• Recent assessment around Tibetan Plateau, largest storehouse of snow and ice outside Arctic and Antarctic, found that global warming is causing temperate zone to expand.
• In East Africa, rainfall has been below average in five consecutive wet seasons, longest such sequence in 40 years.

About WMO

• The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations.
• Established in 1950, it is headquartered at Geneva, Switzerland
• 193 Member States and Territories including India.