Introduction

Abstract —J. Blunden and T. Boyer In 2023, La Niña conditions that generally prevailed in the eastern Pacific Ocean from mid-2020 into early 2023 gave way to a strong El Niño by October. Atmospheric concentrations of Earth’s major greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—all increased to record-high levels. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere rose to 419.3±0.1 ppm, which is 50% greater than the pre-industrial level. The growth from 2022 to 2023 was 2.8 ppm, the fourth highest in the record since the 1960s. The combined short-term effects of El Niño and the long-term effects of increasing levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere contributed to new records for many essential climate variables reported here. The annual global temperature across land and oceans was the highest in records dating as far back as 1850, with the last seven months (June–December) having each been record warm. Over land, the globally averaged temperature was also record high. Dozens of countries reported record or near-record warmth for the year, including China and continental Europe as a whole (warmest on record), India and Russia (second warmest), and Canada (third warmest). Intense and widespread heatwaves were reported around the world. In Vietnam, an all-time national maximum temperature record of 44.2°C was observed at Tuong Duong on 7 May, surpassing the previous record of 43.4°C at Huong Khe on 20 April 2019. In Brazil, the air temperature reached 44.8°C in Araçuaí in Minas Gerais on 20 November, potentially a new national record and 12.8°C above normal. The effect of rising temperatures was apparent in the cryosphere, where snow cover extent by June 2023 was the smallest in the 56-year record for North America and seventh smallest for the Northern Hemisphere overall. Heatwaves contributed to the greatest average mass balance loss for Alpine glaciers around the world since the start of the record in 1970. Due to rapid volume loss beginning in 2021, St. Anna Glacier in Switzerland and Ice Worm Glacier in the United States disappeared completely. In August, as a direct result of glacial thinning over the past 20 years, a glacial lake on a tributary of the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska burst through its ice dam and caused unprecedented flooding on Mendenhall River near Juneau. Across the Arctic, the annual surface air temperature was the fourth highest in the 124-year record, and summer (July–September) was record warm. Smaller-than-normal snow cover extent in May and June contributed to the third-highest average peak tundra greenness in the 24-year record. In September, Arctic minimum sea ice extent was the fifth smallest in the 45-year satellite record. The 17 lowest September extents have all occurred in the last 17 years. In Antarctica, temperatures for much of the year were up to 6°C above average over the Weddell Sea and along coastal Dronning Maud Land. The Antarctic Peninsula also experienced well-above-average temperatures during the 2022/23 melt season, which contributed to its fourth consecutive summer of above-average surface melt. On 21 February, Antarctic sea ice extent and sea ice area both reached all-time lows, surpassing records set just a year earlier. Over the course of the year, new daily record-low sea ice extents were set on 278 days. In some instances, these daily records were set by a large margin, for example, the extent on 6 July was 1.8 million km 2 lower than the previous record low for that day. Across the global oceans, the annual sea surface temperature was the highest in the 170-year record, far surpassing the previous record of 2016 by 0.13°C. Daily and monthly records were set from March onward, including an historic-high daily global mean sea surface temperature of 18.99°C recorded on 22 August. Approximately 94% of the ocean surface experienced at least one marine heatwave in 2023, while 27% experienced at least one cold spell. Globally averaged ocean heat content from the surface to 2000-m depth was record high in 2023, increasing at a rate equivalent to ∼0.7 Watts per square meter of energy applied over Earth’s surface. Global mean sea level was also record high for the 12th consecutive year, reaching 101.4 mm above the 1993 average when satellite measurements began, an increase of 8.1±1.5 mm over 2022 and the third highest year-over-year increase in the record. A total of 82 named tropical storms were observed during the Northern and Southern Hemispheres’ storm seasons, below the 1991–2020 average of 87. Hurricane Otis became the strongest landfalling hurricane on record for the west coast of Mexico at 140 kt (72 m s −1 ), causing at least 52 fatalities and $12–16 billion U.S. dollars in damage. Freddy became the world’s longest-lived tropical cyclones on record, developing into a tropical cyclone on 6 February and finally dissipating on 12 March. Freddy crossed the full width of the Indian Ocean and made one landfall in Madagascar and two in Mozambique. In the Mediterranean Sea—outside of traditional tropical cyclone basins—heavy rains and flooding from Storm Daniel killed more than 4300 people and left more than 8000 missing in Libya. The record-warm temperatures in 2023 created conditions that helped intensify the hydrological cycle. Measurements of total-column water vapor in the atmosphere were the highest on record, while the fraction of cloud area in the sky was the lowest since records began in 1980. The annual global mean precipitation total over land surfaces for 2023 was among the lowest since 1979, but global one-day maximum totals were close to average, indicating an increase in rainfall intensity. In July, record-high areas of land across the globe (7.9%) experienced extreme drought, breaking the previous record of 6.2% in July 2022. Overall, 29.7% of land experienced moderate or worse categories of drought during the year, also a record. Mexico reported its driest (and hottest) year since the start of its record in 1950. In alignment with hot and prolonged dry conditions, Canada experienced its worst national wildfire season on record. Approximately 15 million hectares burned across the country, which was more than double the previous record from 1989. Smoke from the fires were transported far into the United States and even to western European countries. August to October 2023 was the driest three-month period in Australia in the 104-year record. Millions of hectares of bushfires burned for weeks in the Northern Territory. In South America, extreme drought developed in the latter half of the year through the Amazon basin. By the end of October, the Rio Negro at Manaus, a major tributary of the Amazon River, fell to its lowest water level since records began in 1902. The transition from La Niña to El Niño helped bring relief to the prolonged drought conditions in equatorial eastern Africa. However, El Niño along with positive Indian Ocean dipole conditions also contributed to excessive rainfall that resulted in devastating floods over southeastern Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya during October to December that displaced around 1.5 million people. On 5 September, the town of Zagora, Greece, broke a national record for highest daily rainfall (754 mm in 21 hours, after which the station ceased reporting) due to Storm Daniel; this one-day accumulation was close to Zagora’s normal annual total.

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Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Published
2024-08-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1175/2024bamsstateoftheclimate_intro.1
Primary Topic
Cryospheric studies and observations
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article
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article

Introduction

Jelmer Jeuring, Amos Porat, J. Blunden, Oscar M. Baez‐Villanueva et al.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Cryospheric studies and observations
article

Introduction

Jelmer Jeuring, Amos Porat, J. Blunden, Oscar M. Baez‐Villanueva, Christopher S.R. Neigh, Renellys C. Perez, Christine Berne, A. Sayouri, Carlo Arosio, Jean‐Paul Vernier, Jens Mühle, Luke D. Trusel, Yuka Okunaka, Deniz Bozkurt, Isaac Vimont, Alo Laas, Jing‐Jia Luo, Adam Allgood, Bartłomiej Luks, Duo Chan, John Kennedy, Tim R. McVicar, Michael Mayer, Robert A. Weller, Earle Williams, Karin Gleason, Ruxandra-Maria Zotta, Paul Montesano, Diego Loyola, A. E. Mostafa, Clive R. McMahon, Robert Ricker, Andrea K. Steiner, Chris Fenimore, Pranab Deb, S. M. Frith, Howard E. Epstein, Dashkhuu Dulamsuren, Jia‐Rui Shi, Jean‐François Crétaux, Kimberly M. Wood, M. Robjhon, Feng Zhong, Cassandra D. W. Rogers, Zhiwei Zhu, Sarah G. Purkey, Huai‐Min Zhang, Bryant Loomis, Piet Verburg, Andreas Kellerer‐Pirklbauer, Benjamin M. Kraemer, Robert Junod, Zak Kipling, David A. Lavers, Sandra Spillane, Somayeh Ahmadpour, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, B. J. Johnson, Rachel Killick, Serhat Şensoy, Оlga O. Rusanovskaya, Logan T. Berner, Ian Harris, S. L. Farrell, Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne, Johan H. Scheller, David Nance, Yasuyuki Aono, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Coda Phillips, Sean M. Davis, Rodney Martínez, Hanne H. Christiansen, Svetlana V. Shimaraeva, Bianca Ott Andrade, Martin Schmid, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Robert S. Fausto, Donald K. Perovich, V. M. Khan, Paul C. Stoy, Steven Michael Goodman, John Bharat Miller, B. E. Smith, Michael G. Jacox, Kleareti Tourpali, B. D. Beckley, Timothy J. Osborn, Katja Trachte, Estéban Rodríguez Guisado, M. ElKharrim, Xi Shao, Ghassan Taha, José Luis Stella, Walter N. Meier, Holger Vömel, Tannecia S. Stephenson, Olivier Boucher, Jack Kohler, Hosmay Lopez, Andries Kruger, Irina V. Petropavlovskikh, Leslie R. Lait, Mikael Kuusela, Adrian Trotman, Zeng‐Zhen Hu, This Rutishauser, Stanley B. Goldenberg, Gensuo Jia, Diego Cusicanqui, R. S. Nerem, Alexandre Bernardes Pezza, Jos de Laat, Reynaldo Pascual Ramírez, Stefan A. Buehler, Sharon L. Smith, Nicole Estrella, G. J. Wolken, Ricardo Locarnini, Laura S. Aldeco, Vitali Fioletov, Uma S. Bhatt, Lawrence Mudryk, Paul A. Newman, Amy Hawes Butler, Artur Gevorgyan, Seong‐Joong Kim, Twila Moon, Donald A. Walker, Shane Elipot, Yao Fu, Maarit Roebeling, Curt Covey, Sarah T. Gille, Roderick van der Linden, Logan Soldo, Richard P. Allan, Cécile Pellet, P. D. Jones, Markus Ziese, Carl J. Schreck, Nicolas Fauchereau, Marlos Góes, Michael C. Pitts, Scott Clingan, Tyler V. King, Philip J. Klotzbach, Rolf Müller, Qiong He, Oliver Bochníček, Taran Warnock, P. R. Thompson, Jack Chen, Viju O. John, Diego G. Miralles, Daniel S. Harnos, John E. Walsh, D. P. Chambers, Gary T. Mitchum, Roopam Shukla, Eric S. Blake, I.‐I. Lin, John R. Christy, Sophie Godin‐Beekmann, Merritt E. Harlan, Olivier Bonte, Matthew Rosencrans, Robert W. Schlegel, Viktoria Sofieva, Mary‐Louise Timmermans, Kate M. Willett, Kyle Petersen, Pietro Stradiotti, Chris Fogarty, Andrea M. Ramos, Richard Iestyn Woolway, Sergey Khaykin, Lawrence Coy, Blair Trewin, Gerald V. Frost, Liss M. Andreassen, Ryan H. Smith, A. F. Kazemi, Zewdu Segele, Bert Wouters, Ben Noll, David Fereday, Dedi Yang, Mark J. Lara, Chris Landsea, Melinda Webster, Andrew D. Magee, Finnur Pálsson, Ben Moat, Mark Parrington, Peter Bissolli, M. Yu. Bardin, Emily Becker, Kyle R. Clem, Claudia Schmid, Michael J. Foster, David E. Mikolajczyk, Everaldo Barreiros de Souza, Colin Raymond, D. F. Hurst, R. Virasami, Catherine Ganter, Howard J. Diamond, Josyane Ronchail, Waldo Sven Lavado-Casimiro, Tristan Meyers, Caroline Drost Jensen, Dillon J. Amaya, Maxim Timofeyev, Jacqueline Spence-Hemmings, Guojun Gu, Rui Lü, Steve Colwell, G. Bernhard, S.C. Tripathy, Angela Benedetti, Stephen Blenkinsop, Rick Lumpkin, Martin Hirschi, Willy R. Quispe, Olivier Bock, Nicolas Bellouin, Thomas Frederikse, Elizabeth Asher, Jozef Rozkošný, R. H. Holzworth, Laura M. Ciasto, Verena Schenzinger, Wolfgang Preimesberger, Melanie Ades, Robi Muharsyah, Ronald Johannes van der A, Mónika Lakatos, Chris Lennard, Michelle L’Heureux, Arun Kumar, Leonardo A. Clarke, Melanie Coldewey‐Egbers, Xavier Bodín, Bruce C. Forbes, M. A. Merrifield, Jessica Kromer, Ji-In Seong, Michael F. Meyer, John A. Knaff, Lisan Yu, William J. Randel, Reynald Delaloye, Antje Inness, Jonathan Barichivich, Lei Shi, David N. Wiese, Mai Van Khiem, Kanako Sato, Michael Kendon, Sapna Sharma, Thierry Leblanc, Izidine Pinto, Mihai Alexe, Filip Hrbáček, P. Sawaengphokhai, David Smeed, Xavier Fettweis, Guojie Hu, Michael A. Taylor, Eric J. Alfaro, Elizabeth DiGangi, Michelle Maclennan, Richard J. Pasch, Colin Price, Hans Ressl, Iolanda Ialongo, E. Bekele, Chris McBride, Marilyn Raphael, Suzana J. Camargo, Inger Hanssen‐Bauer, Matthew J. Widlansky, Wassila M. Thiaw, Ademe Mekonnen, B. D. Hall, Gareth K. Phoenix, Owen R. Cooper, Michael McCarthy, Michael A. Alexander, Viktor Kaufmann, Laura A. Stevens, Hoang Phuc Lam, Markus G. Donat, Paolo Pogliotti, Thomas J. Ballinger, Leo‐Juhani Meriö, Kazuto Takemura, Svetlana Jevrejeva, Robin van der Schalie, Anthony Argüez, Christopher J. Merchant, Johannes W. Kaiser, Mari R. Tye, Jhan Carlo Espinoza, Emma Tronquo, Ana Paula Martins do Amaral Cunha, Cédric J. Van Meerbeeck, N. A. Kramarova, Donata Giglio, Stephen J. Thackeray, Bjørn Johnsen, O. P. Sreejith, Martin Füllekrug, M. L. Santee, J. K. Willis, L. Froidevaux, Diego Campos, Jayaka Campbell, Annette Menzel, Jr.Paul W. Stackhouse, Nadine Gobron, Edward Hanna, Hylke E. Beck, Garrett Graham, Zhenzhong Zeng, Sebastian Hahn, Ryan L. Fogt, Ahira Sánchez-Lugo, Piyush Jain, Joshua Culpepper, Michael G. Bosilovich, Rik Wanninkhof, Kelsey E. Nyland, William Sweet, Leopold Haimberger, Akash Koppa, Sharon Stammerjohn, Ryan E. Truchelut, Sebastian Gerland, Yelena Khalatyan, Jorge Molina‐Carpio, Mark C. Weber, Eric M. Leibensperger, Norman G. Loeb, Simon H. Lee, Richard R. Heim, Wouter Dorigo, William E. Johns, Xiangshan Tian-Kunze, Mitsuho Oe, Lin Zhao, Johannes Flemming, Shenfu Dong, Judith Garforth, Imke Durre, Linda Paterson, Robert A. Massom, B. D. Hamlington, Laura Carrea, Brendan R. Carter, K. Kabidi, Jeannette Wild, Deborah Hemming, Cheng‐Zhi Zou, John Uehling, R. Said, Sandy Thomalla, Andrew D. Richardson, Atsushi Goto, Brooke Medley, Marcel du Plessis, D. A. Streletskiy, Joaquín Triñanes, Tim Boyer, Alison F. Banwell, Lincoln Muniz Alves, Alice M. Grimm, William Agyakwah, Shanshan Fu, Samuel Rémy, Jostein Mamen, Russell S. Vose, Jason E. Box, Molly Crotwell, Andreas Marouchos, Ivenis Pita, Florence Magnin, Xin Lan, H. A. Fricker, Ryuichiro Shinohara, Eugene A. Silow, Jorge A. Amador, Will Hobbs, Donald C. Pierson, D. A. Degenstein, David Burgess, Megan C. Kirchmeier‐Young, Jens‐Uwe Grooß, Richard Cornes, Shin‐ichiro S. Matsuzaki, Lorenzo M. Polvani, Colin Peter Morice, JL Lieser, Bertrand Decharme, Eui‐Seok Chung, Katherine Turner, Robert Dunn, G. S. Dutton, Francis T. Wu, Bryan A. Franz, Vincent Y. S. Cheng, Alexey Mishonov, Luciano Ponzi Pezzi, Matthew Rodell, Karen H. Rosenlof, Stephen Po–Chedley, Toby K. Westberry, Shiva Dindyal, T. A. Scambos, Rebecca L. Beadling, Alexander Orlik, Linda M. Keller, James E. Overland, Richard Thoman, P. Rohini, Martin T. Dokulil, Adam Smith, Grinia Ávalos, Orlane Anneville, Sebastián Vivero, Shu‐peng Ho, Fabrizio Cappucci, Caio A. S. Coelho, Brian J. Soden, Ben Liley, Caitlyn Florentine, Julien P. Nicolas, Rebecca Baiman, Brian Brettschneider, Jessica Hicks, Katrina S. Virts, Gerard van der Schrier, Marjan Mohammadi, Ryan M. Stauffer, Phillip Reid, Siiri Bigalke, Rick Lader, Simon A. Josey, Ivan Mrekaj, Guillaume Jumaux, Tove Svendby, Isamu Morino, Tetsu Sakai, Kai‐Lan Chang, Emmanuel Thibert, John Gilson, Jeff Lapierre, Brandon Bukunt, Kari Luojus, Rajashree Tri Datta, V. E. Romanovsky, Louis Sass, Rúna Í. Magnússon, Denis L. Volkov, Hongjie Huang, Jeannette Noetzli, Mauro Guglielmin, Alexei V. Rozanov, Ray H. J. Wang, R. Sofia La Fuente, Ketil Isaksen, Peiqun Zhang, Lijing Cheng, Matthew A. Lazzara, G. L. Manney, Kristin Poinar, Tsz-cheung Lee, Boyin Huang, Tom K. R. Matthews, Craig Earl‐Spurr, Matthew J. Macander, Mauri Pelto, Benjamin Rösner, Lucrezia Ricciardulli, Dmitry Divine, John M. Lyman, Randall S. Cerveny, E. W. Leuliette, Blanca Calderón, Nemesio Rodríguez-Fernández, Andreas Kääb, A. J. Simmons, Radley M. Horton, Taylor Norton, Richard de Jeu, Charles Amory, Denise Fernández, Y. T. Eunice Lo, Christine F. Waigl, Stefan Hendricks, Kaisa Lakkala, Jarle W. Bjerke, Hilary A. Dugan, Alexander Gruber, N. I. Shiklomanov, C. T. Sabeerali, Grégory Duveiller, Francis Bringas, Ivona Cetinić, Annika Jersild, Takmeng Wong, A.J.H. van Vliet, Richard Kidd, Michael P. Byrne, César Azorín-Molina, Alek Petty, Chris Derksen, Peter Landschützer, Candice S. Charlton, Theresa M. Crimmins, John Augustine, Fumi Sezaki, Ahad Vazife, Mithat Ekici, Gerardo Jadra, Josh Blannin, Thea Sukianto, Meng Gao, Bin Wang, Kathleen Lantz, David A. Robinson, A. K. Srivastava, Ziqi Yin, Thomas L. Mote, Yakun Liu, Lars Kaleschke, Mark C. Serreze, Masayoshi Ishii, José Marengo, Michael MacFerrin, John Anderson, Xungang Yin, Andrew M. Lorrey, Hans Tømmervik, Stephan A. Montzka, Robert E. Adler, Chao Liu, Kiyotoshi Takahashi, Muyin Wang, Carl A. Mears, Julio Gómez Camacho, S. Hakmi, Caitlin Minney, Máret J. Heatta, Diane Duchemin, Susan M. Lozier, Paola Echeverría Garcés, Cristina Schulz, Laura Thomson, Patricia P. Rivera, Natalia N. Korshunova, Jerry R. Ziemke, Adrian Wehrlé, Natali Mora, Jay Garg, Gregory C. Johnson, Richard A. Feely, Aurel Moise, Lin Chen, Alesksandra Elias Chereque, John O’Keefe, Matthew L. Druckenmiller, Marc Beauchemin, Sandra Barreira, Þorsteinn Thorsteinsson, J. O. REAGAN, Felipe Costa, L. Chisholm, Kris Correa, Marco Tedesco, Thomas W. Estilow, Elise Chandler, Yolanda González Hernández, Dolores Armenteras Pascual, Julieta Serna Cuenca, Mike Brubaker, Roberto Salinas, Susheel Adusumilli, Graeme M. MacGilchrist, R.T.J. Moody, Zachary Michael Labe, Hui Wang
article en

Abstract

Abstract —J. Blunden and T. Boyer In 2023, La Niña conditions that generally prevailed in the eastern Pacific Ocean from mid-2020 into early 2023 gave way to a strong El Niño by October. Atmospheric concentrations of Earth’s major greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—all increased to record-high levels. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere rose to 419.3±0.1 ppm, which is 50% greater than the pre-industrial level. The growth from 2022 to 2023 was 2.8 ppm, the fourth highest in the record since the 1960s. The combined short-term effects of El Niño and the long-term effects of increasing levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere contributed to new records for many essential climate variables reported here. The annual global temperature across land and oceans was the highest in records dating as far back as 1850, with the last seven months (June–December) having each been record warm. Over land, the globally averaged temperature was also record high. Dozens of countries reported record or near-record warmth for the year, including China and continental Europe as a whole (warmest on record), India and Russia (second warmest), and Canada (third warmest). Intense and widespread heatwaves were reported around the world. In Vietnam, an all-time national maximum temperature record of 44.2°C was observed at Tuong Duong on 7 May, surpassing the previous record of 43.4°C at Huong Khe on 20 April 2019. In Brazil, the air temperature reached 44.8°C in Araçuaí in Minas Gerais on 20 November, potentially a new national record and 12.8°C above normal. The effect of rising temperatures was apparent in the cryosphere, where snow cover extent by June 2023 was the smallest in the 56-year record for North America and seventh smallest for the Northern Hemisphere overall. Heatwaves contributed to the greatest average mass balance loss for Alpine glaciers around the world since the start of the record in 1970. Due to rapid volume loss beginning in 2021, St. Anna Glacier in Switzerland and Ice Worm Glacier in the United States disappeared completely. In August, as a direct result of glacial thinning over the past 20 years, a glacial lake on a tributary of the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska burst through its ice dam and caused unprecedented flooding on Mendenhall River near Juneau. Across the Arctic, the annual surface air temperature was the fourth highest in the 124-year record, and summer (July–September) was record warm. Smaller-than-normal snow cover extent in May and June contributed to the third-highest average peak tundra greenness in the 24-year record. In September, Arctic minimum sea ice extent was the fifth smallest in the 45-year satellite record. The 17 lowest September extents have all occurred in the last 17 years. In Antarctica, temperatures for much of the year were up to 6°C above average over the Weddell Sea and along coastal Dronning Maud Land. The Antarctic Peninsula also experienced well-above-average temperatures during the 2022/23 melt season, which contributed to its fourth consecutive summer of above-average surface melt. On 21 February, Antarctic sea ice extent and sea ice area both reached all-time lows, surpassing records set just a year earlier. Over the course of the year, new daily record-low sea ice extents were set on 278 days. In some instances, these daily records were set by a large margin, for example, the extent on 6 July was 1.8 million km 2 lower than the previous record low for that day. Across the global oceans, the annual sea surface temperature was the highest in the 170-year record, far surpassing the previous record of 2016 by 0.13°C. Daily and monthly records were set from March onward, including an historic-high daily global mean sea surface temperature of 18.99°C recorded on 22 August. Approximately 94% of the ocean surface experienced at least one marine heatwave in 2023, while 27% experienced at least one cold spell. Globally averaged ocean heat content from the surface to 2000-m depth was record high in 2023, increasing at a rate equivalent to ∼0.7 Watts per square meter of energy applied over Earth’s surface. Global mean sea level was also record high for the 12th consecutive year, reaching 101.4 mm above the 1993 average when satellite measurements began, an increase of 8.1±1.5 mm over 2022 and the third highest year-over-year increase in the record. A total of 82 named tropical storms were observed during the Northern and Southern Hemispheres’ storm seasons, below the 1991–2020 average of 87. Hurricane Otis became the strongest landfalling hurricane on record for the west coast of Mexico at 140 kt (72 m s −1 ), causing at least 52 fatalities and $12–16 billion U.S. dollars in damage. Freddy became the world’s longest-lived tropical cyclones on record, developing into a tropical cyclone on 6 February and finally dissipating on 12 March. Freddy crossed the full width of the Indian Ocean and made one landfall in Madagascar and two in Mozambique. In the Mediterranean Sea—outside of traditional tropical cyclone basins—heavy rains and flooding from Storm Daniel killed more than 4300 people and left more than 8000 missing in Libya. The record-warm temperatures in 2023 created conditions that helped intensify the hydrological cycle. Measurements of total-column water vapor in the atmosphere were the highest on record, while the fraction of cloud area in the sky was the lowest since records began in 1980. The annual global mean precipitation total over land surfaces for 2023 was among the lowest since 1979, but global one-day maximum totals were close to average, indicating an increase in rainfall intensity. In July, record-high areas of land across the globe (7.9%) experienced extreme drought, breaking the previous record of 6.2% in July 2022. Overall, 29.7% of land experienced moderate or worse categories of drought during the year, also a record. Mexico reported its driest (and hottest) year since the start of its record in 1950. In alignment with hot and prolonged dry conditions, Canada experienced its worst national wildfire season on record. Approximately 15 million hectares burned across the country, which was more than double the previous record from 1989. Smoke from the fires were transported far into the United States and even to western European countries. August to October 2023 was the driest three-month period in Australia in the 104-year record. Millions of hectares of bushfires burned for weeks in the Northern Territory. In South America, extreme drought developed in the latter half of the year through the Amazon basin. By the end of October, the Rio Negro at Manaus, a major tributary of the Amazon River, fell to its lowest water level since records began in 1902. The transition from La Niña to El Niño helped bring relief to the prolonged drought conditions in equatorial eastern Africa. However, El Niño along with positive Indian Ocean dipole conditions also contributed to excessive rainfall that resulted in devastating floods over southeastern Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya during October to December that displaced around 1.5 million people. On 5 September, the town of Zagora, Greece, broke a national record for highest daily rainfall (754 mm in 21 hours, after which the station ceased reporting) due to Storm Daniel; this one-day accumulation was close to Zagora’s normal annual total.

Bulletin of the American Meteorological SocietyVol. 105(8)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), Institut polytechnique de Grenoble (FR), National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (IN), NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), University of East Anglia (GB), Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale del Piemonte (IT), University of Insubria (IT), Goddard Institute for Space Studies (US), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US), Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES), Utah State University (US), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (BO), Uppsala University (SE), Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE), Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (ES), Natural Resources Canada (CA), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI), United States Geological Survey (US), Bureau of Meteorology (AU), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US), Organization for Tropical Studies (CR), Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (NO), Northeastern University (US), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU), Met Office (GB), Flanders Marine Institute (BE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Vienna (AT), University of Tasmania (AU), Hydrometeorological Research Centre of Russian Federation (RU), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (CL), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), Georgia Institute of Technology (US), Pennsylvania State University (US), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US), Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (NL), Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NO), Oregon State University (US), Russian Academy of Sciences (RU), Norwegian Meteorological Institute (NO), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP), Langley Research Center (US), British Antarctic Survey (GB), Geological Survey of Canada (CA), Universities Space Research Association (US), Australian Antarctic Division (AU), University of Hawaii System (US), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US), Korea Meteorological Administration (KR), World Meteorological Organization (CH), Australian Research Council (AU), Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (US), Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), Harvard University (US), North Carolina State University (US), University of Arizona (US), University of Alaska Fairbanks (US), Innsbruck Medical University (AT), University of Miami (US), TU Wien (AT), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IN), Vaisala (United States) (US), Institut de physique du globe de Paris (FR), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), Hampton University (US), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US), University of Fribourg (CH), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (GB), University of Cape Town (ZA), University of Graz (AT), University of Liège (BE), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US), Osaka Prefecture University (JP), Universität Hamburg (DE), University of Freiburg (DE), University of California, Los Angeles (US), Bangor University (GB), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), Tel Aviv University (IL), University of Iceland (IS), University of Georgia (US), National Taiwan University (TW), University of St Andrews (GB), Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE), Deutscher Wetterdienst (DE), Madison Area Technical College (US), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), University of Bremen (DE), Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (US), King's College London (GB), University of Oslo (NO), University of Toronto (CA), University of Colorado Boulder (US), Universität Innsbruck (AT), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (US), York University (CA), George Washington University (US), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR), National Oceanography Centre (GB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (ES), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN), Princeton University (US), University of Washington (US), University of Zurich (CH), Northern Arizona University (US), Aarhus University (DK), Queen's University (CA), Université Paris Cité (FR), New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (US), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (ZA), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR), Masaryk University (CZ), Nichols College (US), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (US), Barcelona Supercomputing Center (ES), South African Weather Service (ZA), Finnish Environment Institute (FI), Wellington City Council (NZ), Icelandic Meteorological Office (IS), Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (DK), Japan Meteorological Agency (JP), NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories (US), Meteorological, Climatological, And Geophysical Agency (ID), India Meteorological Department (IN), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), Saami Council (NO), Southern University of Science and Technology (CN), Universidad de Costa Rica (CR), Ghent University (BE), University of Saskatchewan (CA), Danish Meteorological Institute (DK), Yale University (US), ETH Zurich (CH), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (US), University of Bristol (GB), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (CO), University of California San Diego (US), Sorbonne Université (FR), Graz University of Technology (AT), Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (DE), Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais (BR), Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (FR), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), NOAA National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (US), Earth Resources Technology (United States) (US), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB), Korea Polar Research Institute (KR), NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (US), Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology (AM), NOAA National Weather Service (US), Met Éireann (IE), Technická univerzita vo Zvolene (SK), Earth Cryosphere Institute (RU), Centre d'Études Spatiales de la Biosphère (FR), Israel Water Authority (IL), Ministry of Earth Sciences (IN), Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SK), Hong Kong Observatory (CN), Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (CN), Ohio University (US), NORCE Research AS (NO), Iran Khodro (Iran) (IR), NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center (US), Centre d'Investigacions sobre Desertificació (ES), National Centre for Atmospheric Science (GB), Laboratoire d’Études en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales (FR), Institut des Sciences de la Terre (FR), Météo-France (FR), Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (FR), Meteorological Service Singapore (SG), International Geographical Union (ZA), National Meteorological Service (AR), All Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeorological information World Data Center (RU), Institute of Geography (RU), Guyra Paraguay (PY), Remote Sensing Systems (United States) (US), Joint Research Centre (IT), Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (FR), Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos (CH), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR), National Centre for Earth Observation (GB), NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (US), University of the West Indies (JM), Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (BB), NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (US), NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (US), Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (US), Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences (PL), Institute of Global Climate and Ecology (RU), Institute for Advanced Study (DE), Sydney Institute of Marine Science (AU), Direction de la Météorologie Nationale (MA), Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (US), Science Systems and Applications (United States) (US), Iran Meteorological Organization (IR), Seychelles Fishing Authority (SC), Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CL), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CN), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NO), Université Gustave Eiffel (FR), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (DE), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (FR), Alaska Biological Research (United States) (US), Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales (FR), NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (US), Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche (FR), Woodland Trust (GB), Swiss Academy of Sciences (CH), Hungarian Meteorological Service (HU), Argentine Naval Hydrographic Service (AR), The FRAM Centre (NO), Biospherical Instruments (United States) (US), Adnet Systems (United States) (US), Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (US), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología del Perú (PE), University of Southampton (GB), Osaka Metropolitan University (JP), NOAA National Weather Service Alaska Region, NOAA Climate Prediction Center, NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products & Services, Beijing Climate Center, Meteorological Research Institute (JP), U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (AU), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NZ), University of Virginia (US), University of Bath (GB), Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (DE), Universidade Federal do Paraná (BR), Arizona State University (US), Universidade Federal do Pará (BR), Technical University of Munich (DE), University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US), Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US), NILU (NO), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (FR), University of Reading (GB), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA), Carnegie Mellon University (US), University of South Florida St. Petersburg (US), NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (US), Columbia University (US), University of Newcastle Australia (AU), University of Valparaíso (CL), NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (US), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (BR), Old Dominion University (US), University of Alabama in Huntsville (US), Morgan State University (US), Temple University (US), Newcastle University (GB), University of North Carolina at Asheville (US), Norwegian Polar Institute (NO), College of Marin (US), Ithaca College (US), University of Gothenburg (SE), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), University of Sheffield (GB), Wageningen University & Research (NL), Colorado State University (US), Irkutsk State University (RU), University of Lapland (FI), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES), Delft University of Technology (NL), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
National Centers for Environmental Information
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 83%
Cryospheric studies and observations
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