“In 2023, various historical temperature and ice extent records were broken by enormous margins (figure 1; Ripple et al. 2023a). Both global and North Atlantic sea surface temperatures were far above their 1991–2024 averages for much of the year—a pattern that has continued well into 2024 (figure 1a, 1b). Although Antarctic and global sea ice extent have now come into range of previous years, they remain well below their 1993–2024 averages (figure 1c, 1d). Global daily mean temperatures were at record levels for nearly half of 2023 and much of 2024 (figure 1e). On our current emissions trajectory, we may regularly surpass current temperature records in future years (Matthews and Wynes 2022).”
Figure 1.
Unusual climate anomalies in 2023 and 2024. Ocean temperatures (a, b) are presently far outside their historical ranges. These anomalies reflect the combined effect of long-term climate change and short-term variability. Sources and additional details about each variable are provided in supplemental file S1. Each line corresponds to a different year, with darker gray representing later years. All of the variables shown are daily estimates.