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WMO report: 2001-2010 warmest decade since 1850

04 July 2013 10:31 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementieva – APA. The 2001-2010 decade was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and the world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the decade, said a report released Wednesday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

According to APA, the reports says the record warmth was accompanied by a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice, and accelerating loss of net mass from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and from the world's glaciers. As a result of this widespread melting and the thermal expansion of sea water, global mean sea levels rose about 3mm per year.

According to the WMO survey, floods were the most frequently experienced extreme events over the decade; droughts affected more people than any other kind of natural disaster owing to their large scale and long-lasting nature; and there were 500 tropical cyclone related disaster events recorded in the ten years. Tropical cyclones were reported to have killed nearly 170,000 people and to have affected more than 250m, causing economic damage of $380bn. More than 370,000 people died during the decade as a result of extreme weather and climate conditions – heat, cold, drought, storms and floods, according to data from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. This was 20% higher than 1991-2000.