Record-high sea level, noteworthy extreme weather, and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and oceans are just a few of the hundreds of highlights from Earth's annual checkup.
International, authoritative climate report states 2018 was the fourth warmest year on record.
From greenhouse gases to tropical cyclones, and from the South Pole to the Sahara, the 37th issue of the annual State of the Climate report catalogs the climate in 2016.
In the 2015 edition of the State of the Climate report, climate and biology experts wrote about some dramatic impacts of warming on life in the ocean.
The annual average concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere stood at 395.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2013—a 27 percent increase compared to conditions before the Industrial Revolution. On May 9, 2013, the daily average concentration of CO2 surpassed 400 ppm for the first time at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.
The average global temperature for April 2013 was the 13th highest on record for April at 57.64° Fahrenheit. It also marked the 37th consecutive April and 339th consecutive month (more than 28 years) with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last below-average April temperature was April 1976 and the last below-average temperature for any month was February 1985.
January 2013 was the 37th consecutive January and 335th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th-century average. The last below-average January was in 1976.