International State of the Climate in 2021 Released: record-high greenhouse gases, ocean heat content, and global sea level
Ballinger, T.J., J.E. Overland, R.L. Thoman, M. Wang, M.A. Webster, L.N. Boisvert, C.L. Parker, U.S. Bhatt, B. Brettschneider, E. Hanna, I. Hanssen-Bauer, S.-J. Kim, and J.E. Walsh (2022). Surface air temperature, in State of the Climate in 2021, The Arctic. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S264–S267.
Meier, W. N., D. Perovich, S. Farrell, C. Haas, S. Hendricks, A. Petty, M. Webster, D. Divine, S. Gerland, L. Kaleschke, R. Ricker, A. Steer, X. Tian-Kunze, M. Tschudi, and K. Wood (2022). Sea ice, in State of the Climate in 2021”, The Arctic. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 103 (8), S270–S273.
Feely, R.A., and R. Wanninkhof (2022). Sidebar: IPCC AR6 Assessment of the role of the oceans in the carbon cycle. In State of the Climate in 2021, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S178-S179.
Johnson, G.C., and R. Lumpkin (2022). Overview. In State of the Climate in 2021, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S149.
Johnson, G.C., J.M. Lyman, T. Boyer, L. Cheng, J. Gilson, M. Ishii, R.E. Killick, and S.G. Purkey (2022). Ocean heat content. In State of the Climate in 2021, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S153-S157.
Johnson, G.C., J. Reagan, J.M. Lyman, T. Boyer, C. Schmid, and R. Locarnini (2022). Salinity. In State of the Climate in 2021, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S157-S162.
Greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea levels and ocean heat content reached record highs in 2021, according to the 32nd annual State of the Climate
Most of the excess energy being trapped in the Earth system by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases is stored in the ocean. This map shows where the global ocean gained (orange) or lost (blue) energy between 1993 and 2021. Places where the trend is small relative to year-to-year variability (not statistically significant) are shaded with gray. NOAA Climate.gov map, based on data provided by John Lyman.
