Latest news with #StateoftheClimateintheSouth-WestPacific2024
The Age
5 days ago
- Science
- The Age
‘Fast running out of time to turn the tide': Australia at sea in vast marine heatwave
A marine heatwave causing extreme heat and rainfall has enveloped Australia and stretched for 40 million square kilometres across the south-west Pacific, bringing intense heat, extreme rainfall and sea-level rises. The World Meteorological Organisation has confirmed 2024 was the hottest year on record in the south-west Pacific, which spans more than 10 per cent of the global ocean surface area. Sea surface temperatures were the highest on record and ocean heat content was at near-record levels in 2024. The State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2024 report outlined deadly impacts, including a record-breaking streak of tropical cyclones that hit the Philippines, existential threats to a tropical glacier in Indonesia's New Guinea. Marine heatwaves in the south-west Pacific extended for nearly 40 million square kilometres, over 10 per cent of the global ocean surface area. Across the region, the average temperature was almost half a degree warmer than the 1991–2020 average. Ocean warming and accelerated loss of ice mass from the ice sheets contributed to the rise of the global mean sea level by 4.7 millimetres per year between 2015 and 2024, reaching a new record observed high in 2024, the organisation's report found. 'Sea-level rise is an existential threat to entire island nations,' the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organsiation, Celeste Saulo, said. 'It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide.' It is estimated that each year, at least 50,000 Pacific islanders face the risk of displacement due to the adverse effects of climate change. The waters around Australia have had a prolonged marine heatwave, not just in the Pacific but also the Indian and Southern oceans. Associate Professor Alex Sen Gupta, from the University of New South Wales Climate Change Research Centre, said that not only were marine temperatures around Australia at a record last year, there was a massive jump in heat from the previous record set the year prior.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Science
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Fast running out of time to turn the tide': Australia at sea in vast marine heatwave
A marine heatwave causing extreme heat and rainfall has enveloped Australia and stretched for 40 million square kilometres across the south-west Pacific, bringing intense heat, extreme rainfall and sea-level rises. The World Meteorological Organisation has confirmed 2024 was the hottest year on record in the south-west Pacific, which spans more than 10 per cent of the global ocean surface area. Sea surface temperatures were the highest on record and ocean heat content was at near-record levels in 2024. The State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2024 report outlined deadly impacts, including a record-breaking streak of tropical cyclones that hit the Philippines, existential threats to a tropical glacier in Indonesia's New Guinea. Marine heatwaves in the south-west Pacific extended for nearly 40 million square kilometres, over 10 per cent of the global ocean surface area. Across the region, the average temperature was almost half a degree warmer than the 1991–2020 average. Ocean warming and accelerated loss of ice mass from the ice sheets contributed to the rise of the global mean sea level by 4.7 millimetres per year between 2015 and 2024, reaching a new record observed high in 2024, the organisation's report found. 'Sea-level rise is an existential threat to entire island nations,' the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organsiation, Celeste Saulo, said. 'It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide.' It is estimated that each year, at least 50,000 Pacific islanders face the risk of displacement due to the adverse effects of climate change. The waters around Australia have had a prolonged marine heatwave, not just in the Pacific but also the Indian and Southern oceans. Associate Professor Alex Sen Gupta, from the University of New South Wales Climate Change Research Centre, said that not only were marine temperatures around Australia at a record last year, there was a massive jump in heat from the previous record set the year prior.
