State of the Global Climate 2023

The global climate system is complex.

In order to unpack such complexity, the WMO State of the Global Climate uses seven Climate Indicators to describe the changing climate—providing a broad view of the climate at a global scale. They are used to monitor the domains most relevant to climate change, including the composition of the atmosphere, the energy changes that arise from the accumulation of greenhouse gases and other factors, as well as the responses of land, oceans and ice. The following site aims to provide an overview of the annually produced State of the Climate report.

Please note that for some indicators, 2023 data is not yet available. Estimates and 2022 data are provided where this is the case.

As greenhouse gas concentrations rise, so does global mean surface temperature (GMST). GMST is measured using a combination of air temperature over land, and sea surface temperature in ocean areas, typically expressed as a difference from a baseline period.

Compared to temperature, precipitation is characterized by higher spatial and temporal variability.

As greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, temperatures warm on land and in the ocean.

Changes in global temperature resulting from increasing greenhouse gases also impact bodies of ice, both at sea and on land.

What does mass loss look like? Swipe to see how glaciers are shrinking in Switzerland:

Rising global temperatures have contributed to more frequent and severe extreme weather events around the world, including cold and heat waves, floods, droughts, wildfires and storms. More details on specific events can be found in the report.

The climate is changing in unprecedented ways, but there are still many options to alliviate the impacts, through both mitigation and adaptation.