Greenhouse gas concentrations, the global temperature across land and the ocean, global sea level, and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2023, according to the 34th annual State of the Climate report. 

The international annual review of the world’s climate, led by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), is based on contributions from nearly 600 scientists in 60 countries. It provides the most comprehensive update on Earth’s climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space.

Three scientists from the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) contributed to the report. William Randel, Mari Tye, and Holger Vömel are authors of the Global Climate Chapter, which details the impacts of extreme global temperatures and events in 2023. 

“The report highlights the ongoing increase of intense events. Our analysis shows that 2023 was one of the driest years since 1979, but global one-day maximum rainfall totals over land were close to average even in regions otherwise noted as in drought, demonstrating increased intensity of the rain that did fall,” said Tye. 

For more, see the NOAA news release. 

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