A survey by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) showed four key points of climate change that led the year 2021 to break records.
According to the WMO, concentrations of greenhouse gases, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification are signs that human activities are causing planetary-scale changes on land, ocean and atmosphere, with harmful ramifications. and lasting for sustainable development and ecosystems.
The organization’s report noted that the last seven years were the warmest on record — and despite temporary cooling, due to cooling La Niña conditions at the beginning and end of the year, this was not enough to reverse the rise in temperatures.
For example, the average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.1°C (±0.13°C) above the pre-industrial level.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres used the publication of the WMO report to criticize “humanity’s failure to tackle the climate crisis” and call for urgent action on fossil fuel issues.
Guterrez proposed five key actions to initiate the renewable energy transition. These include greater access to renewable energy technology and supplies, private and public investment in renewables, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies that amount to about $11 million a minute.
“At [energias] Renewables are the only path to real energy security, stable energy prices and sustainable employment opportunities. If we act together, the renewable energy transformation can be the peace project of the 21st century,″ he said.
key indicators
According to the document, greenhouse gas concentrations reached a new global high in 2020, when the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached 413.2 parts per million (ppm) globally, or 149% of the pre-industrial level.
In specific locations, data shows that gases increased in 2021 and early 2022.
Between 2015 and 2021, ocean heat was record high. The ocean’s upper 2000-meter depth continued to warm in 2021 and is expected to continue warming in the future – an irreversible shift from centenary to millennial timescales.
The survey indicated that all datasets agree that ocean warming rates point to a particularly strong increase over the past two decades.
“The heat is penetrating at deeper and deeper levels. Much of the ocean experienced at least one ‘strong’ marine heat wave sometime in 2021,” they wrote.
Regarding ocean acidification, it is important to know that the ocean absorbs about 23% of annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. This, according to the study, reacts with seawater and leads to ocean acidification, which threatens ecosystem organisms and services and, consequently, food security, tourism and coastal protection.
“As the pH [acidez] of the ocean decreases, their ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere also decreases,” they said.
The research also assessed that while the year 2020-2021 has seen less melting than in recent years, there is a trend towards an acceleration of mass loss on multi-decadal timescales.
The researchers wrote that, on average, the world’s benchmark glaciers have shrunk by 33.5 meters (ice equivalent) since 1950, with 76% of that thinning since 1980.
The global mean sea level reached a new record in 2021, after rising by an average of 4.5 millimeters per year in the period 2013-2021. This is more than double the rate between 1993 and 2002 and is primarily due to the accelerated loss of ice mass from the ice sheets, the report said.
This has major implications for hundreds of millions of coastal inhabitants and increases vulnerability to tropical cyclones.
2021 was a particularly punishing year for glaciers in Canada and the US Northwest with record ice mass loss as a result of heat waves and wildfires in June and July.
Greenland experienced an exceptional melting event in mid-August and the first recorded rainfall at Summit Station, the highest point on the ice sheet at an altitude of 3,216 meters.
heat waves
Heat waves broke records in western North America and the Mediterranean. In Death Valley, California, thermometers reached 54.4 °C on July 9, 2021, equating to a similar value in 2020 as the highest recorded in the world since at least the 1930s, and Syracuse in Sicily reached 48, 8°C.
The Canadian province of British Columbia hit 49.6°C on June 29, and this contributed to more than 500 heat-related deaths. In addition to amplifying forest fires which, in turn, worsened the impacts of flooding in November.
“It is only a matter of time before we see another warmest year on record,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas.
According to the research, rising temperatures increase the risk of irreversible loss of marine and coastal ecosystems, including seagrass meadows and kelp forest. Coral reefs are especially vulnerable to climate change.
Estimates are that they will lose between 70% and 90% of their previous coverage area with 1.5°C of warming and more than 99% if the average temperature increases by 2°C.
Guterres assessed that the world must act in this decade to avoid the worsening of climate impacts and to keep the temperature increase below 1.5°C.
Source: CNN Brasil
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