Climate change: The level and warming of the oceans has continued to increase in 2018 to record levels

The level and warming of the oceans continued to increase in 2018 until reaching record levels due to climate change, according to data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The WMO, one of the scientific branches of the UN, released on Thursday its latest statement on the state of the climate, which warns that physical signals and the socio-economic impacts of climate change are increasing.

This document, a provisional version of which had already been published last November, indicates that The year 2018 recorded the fourth highest average global temperature since the existence of the data.

This is, however, the warmest year in which the La Niña phenomenon, marked by declining temperatures in the Pacific, occurs.

Thus, WMO emphasizes that the warming trend has continued in 2018.

Other climate indicators, such as ocean heat, hit new highs last year, surpbading the record of 2017.

According to the WMO, the heat contained in the seas provides a direct measure of the accumulation of energy in the upper layers of the ocean, where more than 90% of the ocean reaches its peak. energy trapped by greenhouse gases.

The sea level also continued to rise, in 2018, its average global level was about 3.7 millimeters higher than that of 2017, a new record.

According to the WMO report, the main cause of this phenomenon is the removal of ice sheets.

By 2018, the extent of sea ice in the Arctic was well below average and remained at unprecedented levels during the first two months of the year.

The maximum annual increase, which occurred in March, was the third smallest recorded on these dates since the start of these measurements in 1979.

In the case of Antarctica, sea ice was also among the lowest recorded, while the Greenland icecap increased due to above-average snowfall, but this had little tendency to the observed reduction. for two decades.

WMO, which usually presents this report in Geneva, announced it this year in New York, where a meeting of countries from around the world is taking place, which discusses, among other things, preparations for the UN climate summit for September.