Report: 2024 temperatures accelerate ice melt and sea level rise

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the UN’s weather, climate and water data body, said in its annual climate report on Wednesday, the 19th of March, that 2024 has been the hottest year on record, leading to faster melting of glaciers, rising sea levels and bringing the world closer to a critical warming threshold, according to Reuters.
The average global temperature in 2024 was 1.55°C warmer than in the pre-industrial era, beating the 2023 record by 0.1°C.
In the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to strive to keep global temperature rise to 1.5°C above the 1850-1900 average. The first estimates of the long-term temperature increase are currently between 1.34°C and 1.41°C, which is close to the limit set in the Paris Agreement, the WMO said.
“One thing that needs to be made very clear is that a single year of global temperatures above 1.5 degrees does not mean that the level in the Paris Agreement has been officially exceeded,” the WMO said, but added that the uncertainty in the data means that this cannot be completely ruled out.
The report said other factors such as changes in the solar cycle, a large volcanic eruption and fewer cooling aerosols in the air were also likely to have caused the temperature rise last year.
Some places became colder, but extreme weather caused widespread damage around the world. Droughts caused food shortages, while floods and wildfires forced 800 000 people to flee their homes – the highest number since data recording began in 2008.
The ocean is also warming at the fastest rate on record, with rising carbon dioxide (CO2) increasing the ocean’s acidity.
Glaciers continued to melt rapidly, raising sea levels to new levels. Between 2015 and 2024, sea levels have risen by an average of 4.7mm per year, compared to 2.1mm between 1993 and 2002, according to the WMO.
The WMO also warned of the long-term consequences of melting ice in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
“Changes in these regions have the potential to affect the general circulation of the oceans, which influences climate worldwide,” the organisation said. “What happens at the poles does not always stay at the poles.”