GENEVA, Jan 10 (KUNA) -- The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has confirmed that 2024 is the warmest year on record with the global average surface temperature reaching approximately 1.55آ°C above pre-industrial levels.
In a press statement, the WMO highlighted that the past decade (2015-2024) has been the warmest on record, marking an extraordinary streak of record-breaking temperatures.
"We are witnessing undeniable evidence of global heating. This is not about one or two record-breaking years but a decade-long series of unprecedented warmth," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said.
"These soaring temperatures are accompanied by destructive extreme weather events rising sea levels and ice melt all driven by record levels of greenhouse gases resulting from human activities." Saulo added "It is important to emphasize that a single year of more than 1.5آ°C for a year does NOT mean that we have failed to meet Paris Agreement long-term temperature goals. However it is essential to recognize that every fraction of a degree of warming matters.
"Whether it is at a level below or above 1.5آ°C of warming every additional increment of global warming increases the impacts on our lives economies and our planet." The WMO also stated that this is the first calendar year where the global mean temperature has exceeded 1.5آ°C above the reference average for 1850-1900.
The UN organization reported that temperature assessment is based on multiple sources of data to support international climate monitoring and to provide authoritative information for the UN Climate Change negotiating process.
The datasets are from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Japan Meteorological Agency, NASA, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the UK's Met Office in collaboration with the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (HadCRUT), and Berkeley Earth. (end) imk.ibi