Context: Recently, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its annual State of the Global Climate for 2020 on April 20, 2021. Earlier they released its provisional Report.

• Irrespective of the widespread surmise that lockdowns and shutdowns to curb the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic would lower emissions and reduce the impact on climate, the report has scary findings.

According to the report
Extreme weather combined with COVID-19 in a double blow for millions of people in 2020. However, the pandemic-related economic slowdown failed to put a brake on climate change drivers and accelerating impacts.

• The report stated that along with the pandemic, people across the world struggled to survive as they faced extreme weather in the form of storms, cyclones, heavy rainfall and record heat.
• On limitations and challenges posed by Covid-19, the report said, “Mobility restrictions and economic downturns owing to Covid-19 slowed down delivery of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable and displaced populations, who live in dense settlements. Response and recovery to people hit by cyclones, storms and similar extreme weather was constrained throughout the pandemic last year.”

Key findings of the report

• 2011-2020 will be the warmest decade with the warmest six years all being since 2015 on record.
• Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continued to rise despite CoVID-19 lockdown.
• The average global temperature in 2020 is set to be about 1.2 °C above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) level and there is a chance to temporarily exceeding 1.5 °C by 2024.
• Despite the current La Niña conditions, which has a cooling effect on global temperatures, this year has already shown near-record heat comparable to the previous record of 2016, which was a strong El-Nino year.
• The most notable warmth was observed across northern Asia, particularly the Siberian Arctic, where temperatures were more than 5 °C above average.
• Due to climate change, high-impact events including extreme heat, wildfires and floods, as well as the record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, affected millions of people, compounding threats to human health and security and economic stability.

Sea ice

• Since the mid-1980s, the Arctic has warmed at least twice as fast as the global average.
• It is reinforcing a long downward trend in summer Arctic sea ice extent which has repercussions on the climate in mid-latitude regions.

Sea-level rise and ocean heat

• More than 80% of the global ocean experienced marine heatwave.
• More than 90% of the excess energy accumulating in the climate system as a result of increased concentrations of greenhouse gases goes into the ocean.
• A greater loss of ice mass from the ice sheets is the main cause of the accelerated rise in the global mean sea level.
• As with heatwaves on land, extreme heat can affect the near-surface layer of the oceans with consequences for marine life and dependent communities.

Ocean acidification is increasing

• The ocean absorbs around 23% of the annual emissions of anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere, thereby helping to alleviate the impacts of climate change on the planet.
• The ecological costs of this process to the ocean are high, as the CO2 reacts with seawater lowering its pH; a process known as ocean acidification.

Floods

• Severe flooding affected many millions of people in East Africa and the Sahel, South Asia, China and Viet Nam.
• Flooding in parts of Africa and South-East Asia led to massive population displacement and undermined food security for millions.

Heat, drought and fires

• Northern Argentina, Paraguay and the western border areas of Brazil were severely drought-affected which led to wildfire activity across the region with most severe in the Pantanal wetlands of western Brazil.
• In the USA, the largest fires ever recorded occurred due to widespread drought and extreme heat.
• Australia and Europe experienced drought and heatwaves, too.
• Wildfires consumed vast areas in Australia, Siberia, the US West Coast and South America, sending plumes of smoke circumnavigating the globe.

Tropical cyclones and storms

• The number of tropical cyclones globally was above average in 2020, with 96 cyclones till now, out of which, 30 tropical cyclones is experienced only by the North Atlantic region alone.
• Unprecedented 2 back-to-back Category 4 hurricanes hit Central America.
• Cyclone Amphan which made landfall near the India-Bangladesh border was the costliest tropical cyclone on record for the North Indian Ocean, with reported economic losses in India of approximately US$14 billion. 

Additional Information

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 192 Member States and Territories.
• It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was established after the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress.
• Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.'
• WMO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.