Latest News

UN: Southwest Pacific to be hit by unprecedented marine heatwaves in 2024

The UN's weather agency said that in 2024, unprecedented heat waves in Southwest Pacific will affect more than 10% the surface of the ocean, damaging coral reefs, and placing the last tropical glacier in the region at risk of extinction.

In an annual report, the World Meteorological Organization stated that the average 2024 temperature in the region (which includes Australia and New Zealand and southeast Asian island countries like Indonesia and the Philippines) was nearly half a degree Celsius higher than the mean temperatures between 1991 and 2020.

Blair Trewin of WMO, who is one of the authors of the report, said that "much of the region experienced at least severe conditions of marine heat waves at some point in 2024," particularly near and south the equator.

The report stated that extreme heat in 2014 affected 40 million square kilometers (15.4 million sq miles) of ocean and new temperatures were recorded in Australia and the Philippines. Ocean surface temperatures broke records as well, and the total heat content of the ocean was second highest on average behind 2022.

In October and November, the Philippines was also hit by an unprecedented number of cyclones that experts attribute to climate change.

The report also noted that sea levels are continuing to rise faster than the global average. This is an urgent issue in a region with more than half of its population living within 500 metres (547 yards), or less, from the coast.

Satellite data also showed that the only tropical glacier in the region, located on the western side of New Guinea island, Indonesia, shrank up to 50% during the past year.

Thea Turkington of the WMO, one of the authors of the report, said: "Unfortunately, the rate of glacier loss is so high that this glacier may disappear by 2026, or soon thereafter." (Reporting and editing by Stephen Coates; David Stanway)

(source: Reuters)