#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Global warming has caused the Earth’s hydrological cycle to accelerate and make it irregular and unpredictable. This was stated by Andreia Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The WMO’s annual State of Global Water Resources report states that 2023 turned out to be the warmest year on record, TASS reports. As a result, two opposing phenomena were observed throughout the world during the year – prolonged droughts and floods.
Thus, in 2023, low water levels were observed in Asia and Oceania, and record lows were observed in the Mississippi and Amazon basins. At the same time, on the east coast of Africa, the level of runoff and flooding exceeded the norm, in the North island of New Zealand and the Philippines, the annual water consumption was significantly higher than normal, as well as in the UK, Ireland, Finland and southern Sweden.
Saulo noted that scientists are increasingly faced with water shortages and excesses. According to her, the state of water resources on the planet, like a canary in a coal mine, sends out distress signals in the form of extreme rainfall, floods and droughts.
She also noted that the melting of glaciers on the planet threatens the long-term water security of many millions of people and that humanity still knows too little about the true state of the world’s freshwater reserves. Thus, in 2023, glaciers lost more than 600 gigatons of water – and this is the worst figure in 50 years of observations. Glaciers in western North America and in the European part of the Alps were especially affected – in Switzerland, glaciers have decreased by 10 percent over the past two years.
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Text: Victor Borodin, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
