Australia, Pacific rocked by ocean heatwaves last year
Ocean temperatures in the south-west Pacific reached fresh highs last year as heatwaves struck more than 10% of the world's marine waters.
Long stints of extreme ocean heat were experienced by nearly 40 million square kilometres of the region in 2024, including the waters surrounding Australia, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has revealed.
WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo said ocean heat and acidification were together inflicting long-lasting damage on marine ecosystems and economies
"It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide," she said.
High ocean temperatures have been wreaking havoc on heat-sensitive coral reefs worldwide, with Australian authorities reporting the sixth mass bleaching event at the Great Barrier Reef in less than a decade.
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Warming on land was also higher than it had ever been last year, with Thursday's report from the United Nations weather and climate agency identifying temperatures roughly 0.48°C above the 1991–2020 average across the region.
Heatwaves were particularly acute in Western Australia, with the coastal town of Carnarvon reaching 49.9°C in February and breaking existing temperature records by more than two degrees.
The south-west Pacific assessment aligns with global temperature records being consistently broken as concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reach fresh highs.
Last year was the hottest on record and the first to surpass 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial times, the benchmark temperature under the Paris climate agreement.
The global pact has not yet been breached as it refers to long-term trends but more warming is expected, with a separate WMO report predicting a 70% chance the average temperature over the next five years will exceed 1.5 degrees.
The WMO regional report pre-dated Cyclone Alfred and the devastating flooding events Australia experienced in the first half of 2025, but captured above-average rainfall for the northern states last year.
A sea level rise in the Pacific region that exceeds global averages was also recorded, threatening island communities living near the coast.
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Elsewhere in the region, Indonesia's glacier ice degraded 30-50% compared to 2022.
If melting continues at the same rate, the ice is on track to disappear entirely by 2026 or soon after.
The Philippines was struck by twice as many cyclones as normal, with 12 storms hitting the country between September and November.
Climate patterns also influenced the year's weather events, including El Nino conditions at the start of 2024 in the tropical Pacific Ocean that weakened to neutral conditions by the middle of the year.
Head of the federal Climate Change Authority Matt Kean said there was still "time to arrest this direction of travel to a hothouse destination" at an event in Sydney on Wednesday.
"First, we should ignore the doubters whose main mission seems to be to prolong the life of fossil fuel industries," he said while delivering the Talbot Oration at the Australian Museum.
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1News
2 days ago
- 1News
Australia, Pacific rocked by ocean heatwaves last year
Ocean temperatures in the south-west Pacific reached fresh highs last year as heatwaves struck more than 10% of the world's marine waters. Long stints of extreme ocean heat were experienced by nearly 40 million square kilometres of the region in 2024, including the waters surrounding Australia, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has revealed. WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo said ocean heat and acidification were together inflicting long-lasting damage on marine ecosystems and economies "It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide," she said. High ocean temperatures have been wreaking havoc on heat-sensitive coral reefs worldwide, with Australian authorities reporting the sixth mass bleaching event at the Great Barrier Reef in less than a decade. ADVERTISEMENT Warming on land was also higher than it had ever been last year, with Thursday's report from the United Nations weather and climate agency identifying temperatures roughly 0.48°C above the 1991–2020 average across the region. Heatwaves were particularly acute in Western Australia, with the coastal town of Carnarvon reaching 49.9°C in February and breaking existing temperature records by more than two degrees. The south-west Pacific assessment aligns with global temperature records being consistently broken as concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reach fresh highs. Last year was the hottest on record and the first to surpass 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial times, the benchmark temperature under the Paris climate agreement. The global pact has not yet been breached as it refers to long-term trends but more warming is expected, with a separate WMO report predicting a 70% chance the average temperature over the next five years will exceed 1.5 degrees. The WMO regional report pre-dated Cyclone Alfred and the devastating flooding events Australia experienced in the first half of 2025, but captured above-average rainfall for the northern states last year. A sea level rise in the Pacific region that exceeds global averages was also recorded, threatening island communities living near the coast. ADVERTISEMENT Elsewhere in the region, Indonesia's glacier ice degraded 30-50% compared to 2022. If melting continues at the same rate, the ice is on track to disappear entirely by 2026 or soon after. The Philippines was struck by twice as many cyclones as normal, with 12 storms hitting the country between September and November. Climate patterns also influenced the year's weather events, including El Nino conditions at the start of 2024 in the tropical Pacific Ocean that weakened to neutral conditions by the middle of the year. Head of the federal Climate Change Authority Matt Kean said there was still "time to arrest this direction of travel to a hothouse destination" at an event in Sydney on Wednesday. "First, we should ignore the doubters whose main mission seems to be to prolong the life of fossil fuel industries," he said while delivering the Talbot Oration at the Australian Museum.
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2 days ago
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In the space of less than four weeks, five tropical cyclones made landfall in the Philippines, killing 150 people. Nearly 40 million km2 of ocean was affected by marine heatwaves - more than 10 percent of the global ocean surface area, or almost the size of the Asian continent, the report said. WMO earlier said every one of the years from 2015 to 2024 were one of the 10 warmest on record globally. A slip in Dunedin on 7 October after massive downpours caused floods, landslides and road closures. Photo: RNZ / Charlotte Cook Dunedin's floods in October were on the list of extreme events, along with heatwaves in Australia and Malaysia and other events. During the storms, Dunedin residents said the flooding was like nothing they'd seen . The Philippines was hammered by storms. 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He said it would be harder for the Pacific Islands to recover economically from the impacts of climate change, because of their vulnerability. The report also provided an update on one of the world's last remaining tropical glaciers in West Papua, which Turkington said could be gone as soon as 2026. "In Indonesia, glacier ice loss continued rapidly in 2024, with the total ice area in the western part of New Guinea declining by 30-50 percent since 2022," the report said. Atmospheric concentrations of the three major greenhouse gases reached new record observed highs in 2023, the latest year for which global figures are available. Sea level rise and ocean warming had accelerated in the region, the report said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
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‘Intense storm' on sun prompting aurora activity
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