In the month of October, 2021, the World Meteorological Organization released the State of the Climate in Asia Report. The report provides an overview of land and sea temperatures, precipitation, glacier retreat, storms, rise in sea level, and sea ice shrinkage. The report also examines the socio-economic impact of COVID 19 in Asia.
Highlights of the report
2020 was the warmest year in Asia. The average temperature was 1.39 degrees Celsius higher than the period from 1981 to 2010. There was also significant extreme heat in certain areas. For example, in Verkhoyansk, Russia, temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius were recorded. This is the highest temperature known in the Arctic Circle.
The East Asian monsoon and South Asian monsoon were extraordinarily active. They caused hurricanes, floods and landslides.
Average surface temperatures of sea in the year 2020 reached record highs in the region of Pacific, Arctic and Indian Ocean. Surface temperatures and Sea warming in and around Asia are rising faster than the world average. It increases three times in the Arabian Sea. The Arctic sea surface temperature will also triple. Located in the Arctic Circle, the Barents Sea is considered a hotspot for climate change. Here, the loss of sea ice leads to further warming of the sea.
Sea ice spread is an important indicator of polar climate change. The spread of ice in the Arctic Ocean was minimal in the year 2020 compared to the previously recorded years. The Eurasian continental shelf and the North Sea route were completely ice-free in the summer of 2020.
Sea level has risen 3.3 millimetres each year since the year 1990. Sea-level rises in the North Indian Oceans and Northwest Pacific are higher than global rises.
The Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas have glaciers of 100,000 square kilometers. They contain the most ice in the non-polar world. The region originates in 10 important rivers in Asia. Glacier retreat is accelerating in this region. Glacier mass is expected to decrease by 20-40 percent by the year 2050. This is said to affect the lives of greater than 750 million people globally as well as global sea levels, regional hazards such as landslides and avalanches and regional water cycles.
About 50 million people in Asia were affected by the floods in the year 2020. There were also more than 5,000 deaths. The economic damage caused by extreme weather was $ 83 billion in Japan, $ 238 billion in China and $ 87 billion in India. Extreme weather has been the reason of displacement of millions of people. In the year 2020, Cyclone Amphan caused the displacement of 2.5 million people in Bangladesh and 2.4 million people in India.
About 48.8 million people in Southeast Asia, about 305.7 million people in South Asia, and 42.3 million people in West Asia suffer from malnutrition. Asia’s malnourished population increased by 6% in Southeast and West Asia.
Between the years from 1992 to 2019, mangroves in this region fell by 19 percent. Between the years from 1990 to 2018, forest coverage increased in India, Vietnam and China. However, forest coverage declined in Myanmar, Cambodia and the North Korea.