The Copernicus Annual Report provides a general summary of the most significant climate extremes for 2024
2024 was the warmest year on record worldwide, with the average global temperature reaching 15.10 degrees Celsius. This was announced today by the meteorological service of the European Union Copernicus. Last year was also the first calendar year in which the average global temperature was 1.5 degrees higher than in the pre-industrial period.
The Copernicus Annual Report presents a general summary of the most significant climate extremes for 2024 and the main factors behind them, be it greenhouse gas concentrations, El Niño or other natural fluctuations.
“2024 was the warmest year in global temperature records that go back to 1850. The global average temperature was 15.10°C, 0.72°C above the 1991 to 2020 average and 0.12°C above in 2023, which was the previous warmest year on record,” meteorologists from the EU service said. “Last year was thus 1.60 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial period between 1850 and 1900,” they added. Comparisons with the time before the industrial revolution are used by climatologists to illustrate global warming.
“Every year in the past decade has been the warmest on record. High global temperatures, together with record global levels of atmospheric water vapor in 2024, have brought unprecedented heat waves and heavy rainfall that have caused suffering for millions of people,” said Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus Service.
“All international global temperature records show that 2024 was the warmest year since measurements began in 1850. Humanity is responsible for its own fate, but our response to climate challenges should be evidence-based,” added her colleague from the EU service Carlo Buontempo. “The future is in our hands – swift and decisive action can still change the trajectory of our future climate,” he added.
According to records, a new record for daily global average temperature of 17.16 degrees Celsius was also achieved on July 22 last year. 2024 was the warmest year for all continental regions except Antarctica and Australasia, as well as for large parts of the ocean, particularly the North Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean.
Even in Europe, temperatures were above average last year. 2024 was the warmest on record for Europe with an average temperature of 10.69 degrees Celsius, 1.47 degrees above the average for the reference period between 1991 and 2020 and 0.28 degrees above the previous record of 2020.
“In 2024, extreme weather was observed worldwide, from severe storms and floods to heat waves, droughts and forest fires,” the report also states. “The increasing frequency and intensity of such events pose a significant risk to the livelihoods of people around the world,” the meteorologists added.
The Copernicus program is part of the European Union’s space program, which is financed by EU funds. Published data provides EU citizens with up-to-date information regarding planet Earth and its environment. The program is coordinated and managed by the European Commission (EC) and is implemented in cooperation with member states, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organization for the Use of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and other EU agencies.
Source: zpravy.tiscali.cz
