WMO: "This Year Will Be Recorded as the 'Hottest Year'"

Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere Significantly Impact Global Temperature Rise Trends

This year is expected to be recorded as the hottest year in history.

The electronic display board is announcing a heatwave warning. Photo by Yonhap News

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced on the 8th (local time) that it will release climate observation data related to this on the 11th at the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29) held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

According to the WMO, the Earth's surface temperature analysis was compiled using data from January to September this year. After analyzing various observation data such as sea surface temperature and sea ice conditions, the average global temperature during this period was higher than the same period last year.

Although changes in the following three months (October, November, December) will affect the annual average temperature, considering the trend, the WMO expects a high possibility of breaking last year's record. Last year's Earth's surface temperature was 1.45 degrees Celsius (±0.12 degrees margin of error) higher than the average from 1850 to 1900, which is considered the pre-industrial period.

The European Union (EU) climate change monitoring agency Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which measures data together with the WMO, observed that last year's global average temperature was 14.98 degrees Celsius, the highest since observations began.

If this year becomes the hottest year as predicted by the WMO, it supports the analysis that the disappearance of the El Ni?o phenomenon has a limited impact on the rise in global temperatures. The El Ni?o phenomenon refers to an abnormal increase in sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It occurred in May last year but disappeared this summer.

The El Ni?o phenomenon has been considered an accelerating factor of global warming. Although the influence of El Ni?o was not significant this year, global temperatures still rose. Experts estimate about a 60% chance that La Ni?a, the opposite phenomenon, will occur by the end of the year.

The WMO explained that El Ni?o and La Ni?a are important climate variables that cause abnormal weather worldwide but do not have a decisive impact on changing the trend of global temperature rise. They analyzed that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trapping heat have had a greater influence on creating the trend of rising global temperatures.