The year 2023 was considered the driest in the last 33 years, according to the new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), released this Monday (7).
Due to the heat, several rivers on the planet were directly affected, with the Amazon River Basin being among the most affected by the severe drought.
The data recorded compares indices recorded since 1991.
Compared to the last 33 years, 2023 was, on average, 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels. The years 2021 and 2015 rank second and third, respectively, among the years with the worst heat indexes reported.
Due to the intense heat, gLarge territories in South America, including Brazil, suffered in 2023 from severe droughts and reduced river discharge conditions, a phenomenon referring to the volume of water that passes through a given point in the river in a given period of time.
Compared to previous years, in 2023, 50% of river basins around the world recorded deviations in river discharges, which are predominantly lower than what can be considered normal.
The Amazon River basin, together with the Mississippi watershed, which runs through the United States, recorded negative records in water levels. Between the two basins, the Amazon River was the one that recorded lowest levels observed due to severe droughts.
ANDn October 2023, the Rio Negro, one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon River and considered the seventh largest river in the world, reached the greatest drought in its history and the lowest level ever recorded in more than 120 years of measurement, until then. The record was surpassed this year, but the current period was not included in the survey.
Additionally, the Amazon region suffered a loss of storage between 2022 and 2023.
The reduction in water levels, lower than usual, was also significant in the Paraná River, in southern Brazil.
Also according to the report, the cause for the extreme heat recorded is due to transition from La Niña to El Niño conditions, as well as the positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) that contributed to climate change, from heavy rains to floods and droughts.
From La Niña to El Niño
El Niño and La Niña are climate phenomena that are characterized by changes in the temperature of the waters of the Pacific Ocean. While El Niño occurs at intervals of two to seven years and is characterized by the warming of the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean in the Ecuador region, La Niña corresponds to the opposite of the phenomenon, being characterized by the cooling of the surface waters of the Pacific and the drop in global temperatures.
Both directly affect the global climate and can result in a series of impacts, including an increased risk of heavy rain and severe droughts in certain parts of the world.
Affected glaciers
With the loss of more than 600 gigatons (Gt) of water, 2023 also saw the largest loss of glacier mass in the last five decades, according to WMO data.
According to the survey, 2023 is the second consecutive year in which all glaciated regions in the world have lost ice. The biggest losses occurred mainly during the summer season.
Glaciers in Europe, Scandinavia, the Caucasus, northwestern Canada, western South Asia and New Zealand have already passed “peak water”, which occurs when there is the limit of maximum runoff due to melting.
In the Southern Andes (dominated by the Patagonia region), the Russian Arctic and Svalbard are still experiencing increasing melt rates.
This content was originally published in The year 2023 was the driest in history for the planet’s rivers, says a report on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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