Greenhouse Gases and Sea Levels Hit Record High

Three major climate change indicators set records by 2022.
That includes greenhouse gas concentrations and global sea levels.
Climate change is driving more extreme weather and can make the impacts from hurricanes and other weather worse.

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Three major indicators of climate change set records in 2022, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration.

The concentration of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere was the highest it has been since record keeping began in the late 1800s. Sea levels and ocean heat content were also at record highs.

“Greenhouse gas emissions are warming temperatures, both on land and in the oceans, and driving sea level rise,” weather.com reports. Ari Sarsalari he said. “All of that contributes to extreme weather and negative impacts from things like hurricanes and heavy rain events.”

(TOO MUCH: Here’s how a warming world could affect hurricane season)

In the US, most greenhouse gas emissions come from carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels for transportation and energy.

“The drumbeat of human-caused climate change is inevitable in this report,” Bob Henson, a meteorologist and reporter with Yale Climate Connections, told weather.com in an email. “I’m impressed by the total number and temperature records set for the entire planet by 2022, which now seems to be a harbinger of the global warming we’re seeing this year.”

The annual report of “The Climate Report” is published by the American Meteorological Society. It comes on the heels of other notable recent weather events, including June, July and August being confirmed as the three hottest months on record.

Dozens of homes were severely damaged by flooding caused by hurricanes Ian and Nicole in Wilbur-by-the-Sea, Florida, September through November 2022. Scientists say such damage is being exacerbated by sea level rise and other climate change factors.

(Jan Childs/weather.com)

Here are the highlights from the report:

The global concentration of carbon dioxide has been 50% higher by 2022 than pre-industrial levels. “It’s no surprise that we set a new record for atmospheric carbon dioxide, because we’re pretty much assured of such records every year unless we reduce global emissions to zero,” Henson said.

The annual concentration of atmospheric methane, also a record, was 165% higher.. Methane doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, but the Environmental Protection Agency says it has more than twenty-five times the warming potential.

Global average sea level was the highest for the 11th year in a row, it reached about 4 inches above its average in 1993, when satellite measurements began. Sea-level rise is caused by warming oceans and higher air temperatures that cause seawater to rise and glaciers and ice caps to melt, and can vary greatly depending on location.

It was the warmest La Niña year on record. “La Niña years tend to be colder than El Niño years,” Henson said. “So it’s eye-opening that so many global temperature records have been set in 2022 despite it being the third year in a row of La Niña.”

2022 saw many weather events. NOAA in particular picks a brutal summer heatwave across parts of Europe. Many places in England, France and six other countries set all-time temperature records. Historic warming has caused unprecedented ice melt in the Alps.

More than 570 scientists from more than 60 countries have contributed to ‘The Climate.’ “This report is a truly global effort to fully understand climate trends around the world and our ability to monitor them,” NCEI Director Derek Arndt said in a press release.

The analysis includes data collected on land and land, water and ice. “It’s like the annual body of the Earth system, and it serves current and future generations by documenting and sharing data that shows the growing and changing conditions in our warming world,” said Derek Arndt, director of the National Center for Environmental Information, Derek Arndt. in the summary report.

MORE AT WEATHER.COM

–Erosion from Hurricanes Ian, Nicole in Florida No Surprise, Geologist Says

–Harvard Professor Skips Retirement for Chance to Help Save the Planet

–Daytime floods are getting worse, according to the NOAA Report

–Why Is It Getting Hotter?

–Satellites show global warming is causing more extreme drought and rain events, study says

Weather.com a reporter Jan Children includes top news and features related to weather, space, climate change, environment and everything in between.

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