Sea levels have risen by an average of 10 millimeters since January 2020, reaching a new record high this year, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which issued a severe warning in its interim report on the state of the global climate on 2022, which was made public. Sunday. The WMO, a division of the United Nations, found a number of startling facts about climate change and its impacts, including that “the last eight years are on track to be the eight warmest on record.” But the most alarming findings may be those related to sea-level rise, as the encroaching ocean threatens major coastal population centers with stronger storms, higher storm surge and flooding. “The rate of sea level rise has doubled since 1993,” WMO noted. “The last two and a half years alone account for 10 percent of the total sea level rise since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years ago.” Meltwater flows from the Greenland ice sheet into Baffin Bay in July. (Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images) One of the main causes of the accelerating rate of sea level rise is the melting of glaciers. According to the WMO, “2022 took an extremely heavy toll on glaciers in the European Alps, with initial indications of record melting. The Greenland ice sheet lost mass for the 26th year in a row and it rained (and not snowed) there for the first time in September.” Last week, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) issued a report on endangered glaciers, finding that one-third of glaciers in UNESCO World Heritage Sites are expected to disappear by 2050. The remaining two-thirds can to be saved if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced quickly and deeply enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the report concluded. The devastating effects of melting glaciers are already being witnessed in Pakistan, where an unusually warm spring has caused melting glaciers that have contributed to floods that have submerged a third of the country, displacing millions of residents. The story continues The report’s release coincided with the start of the UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm-el Sheik, Egypt, also known as COP27, to build support for more aggressive action to curb emissions. Political developments, however, have dampened hopes that significant new greenhouse gas reduction commitments will be announced during COP27. People cross a flooded street after heavy rains in Karachi, Pakistan in July. (Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images) “The greater the warming, the worse the effects,” said WMO Secretary-General Petri Taalas. “We have such high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now that the lower 1.5°C of the Paris Agreement is barely achievable. It is already too late for many glaciers and melting will continue for hundreds if not thousands of years. … Although we still measure it in millimeters per year, it adds up to half a meter to 1 meter per century, and this is a long-term and significant threat to many millions of coastal residents and low-lying states.” As the oceans rise from melting glaciers and polar ice caps, they also warm as they absorb more heat, causing them to expand further in volume. Ocean temperatures reached record levels in 2021 (the latest year for which data was available). Warmer oceans lead to a number of ecosystem impacts, including coral bleaching and declining fish populations. It also fuels stronger storms like Hurricane Fiona, which recently ravaged Puerto Rico with 30 inches of rain, causing landslides and overflowing rivers and widespread power outages. In 2022, the average global temperature is estimated to be about 1.15 °C above the 1850-1900 average. This actually could have been worse. For the first time in a century, La Niña, a weather pattern that causes cool water to rise to the surface in the Pacific Ocean – leading to colder-than-usual weather – has occurred for the third year in a row. The WMO estimates that this means 2022 will be the fifth or sixth warmest year on record, rather than the warmest ever. But the trend towards ever-higher temperatures remains clear. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Monday. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images) “The latest State of the World Climate report is a chronicle of climate chaos,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in response to the report’s release. “As the World Meteorological Organization shows so clearly, change is occurring at a devastating speed, destroying lives and livelihoods on every continent. Melting records of glaciers are melting on their own, jeopardizing water security for entire continents. We must respond to the planet’s distress signal with action — ambitious, credible climate action. COP27 must be the place and now must be the time.”
