State of the climate in 2013

Jessica Blunden, Derek S. Arndt, Kate M. Willett, A. Johannes Dolman, Dale F. Hurst, Jared Rennie, Peter W. Thorne, Markus G. Donat, Robert J.H. Dunn, Craig S. Long, John R. Christy, Jeannette Noetzli, Hanne H. Christiansen, Mauro Gugliemin, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Nicolai I. Shiklomanov, Sharon L. Smith, Lin Zhao, David A. Robinson, Mauri S. PeltoCarl A. Mears, Shu Oeng Ben Ho, Liang Peng, Junhong Wang, Russell S. Vose, Kyle Hilburn, Xungang Yin, Michael C. Kruk, Andreas Becker, Michael J. Foster, Steven A. Ackerman, Andrew K. Heidinger, Brent C. Maddux, M. Stengel, Hyuanjun Kim, Taikan Oki, Matthew Rodell, Don P. Chambers, James S. Famiglietti, Wouter A. Dorigo, D. Chung, Robert M. Parinussa, C. Reimer, S. Hahn, Y. Y. Liu, Wolfgang W. Wagner, Rochard A.M. de Jeu, C. Paulik, Guojie Wang, Rob Allan, Chris K. Folland, Isabelle Tobin, Paul Berrisford, Robert Vautard, Tim R. McVicar, David P. Kratz, Paul W. Stackhouse, Takmeng Wong, P. Sawaengphokhai, Anne C. Wilber, Shashi K. Gupta, Norman G. Loeb, Kathy O. Lantz, Ed J. Dlugokencky, Bradley D. Hall, Stephen A. Montzka, Geoff S. Dutton, Jens Mühle, James W. Elkins, Angela Benedetti, Luke T. Jones, Johannes W. Kaiser, Jean Jacques Morcrette, Samuel Rémy, Mark Weber, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, Ronald J. van der A., Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Vitali E. Fioletov, Stacey M. Frith, Diego Loyola, Jeannette D. Wild, Sean M. Davis, Karen H. Rosenlof, Owen R. Cooper, Jerry Ziemke, Johannes Flemming, Antje Inness, Shaun Quegan, Phillipe Ciais, M. Santoro, Bernard Pinty, Nadine Gobron, Guido R. van der Werf, Michele L. Newlin, Margarita C. Gregg, Yan Xue, Zeng Zhen Hu, Arun Kumar, Viva Banzon, Thomas M. Smith, Nick A. Rayner, Gregory C. Johnson, John M. Lyman, Joshua K. Willis, Tim Boyer, John Antonov, Simon A. Good, Catia M. Domingues, Nathan Bindoff, Lisan Yu, Xiangze Jin, G. S.E. Lagerloef, Hsun Ying Kao, James Reagan, Claudia Schmid, Ricardo Locarnini, Rick Lumpkin, Gustavo Goni, Kathleen Dohan, Molly O. Baringer, Gerard McCarthy, Matthias Lankhorst, David A. Smeed, Uwe Send, Darren Rayner, William E. Johns, Christopher S. Meinen, Stuart A. Cunningham, Torsten O. Kanzow, Eleanor Frajka-Williams, Jochem Marotzke, Silvia Garzoli, Shenfu Dong, Denis Volkov, Will R. Hobbs, Mark A. Merrifield, Philip Thompson, Eric Leuliette, R. Steven Nerem, Ben Hamlington, Gary T. Mitchum, Kathleen McInnes, John J. Marra, Melisa Menéndez, William Sweet, Richard A. Feely, Rik Wanninkhof, Christopher L. Sabine, Jeremy T. Mathis, Taro Takahashi, Samar Khatiwala, Bryan A. Franz, Michael J. Behrenfeld, David A. Siegel, P. Jeremy Werdell, Howard J. Diamond, Gerald D. Bell, Michelle L’Heureux, Michael S. Halpert, Stephen Baxter, Jonathan Gottschalck, Chris W. Landsea, Stanley B. Goldenberg, Richard J. Pasch, Eric S. Blake, Jae Schemm, Todd B. Kimberlain, Carl J. Schreck, Thomas E. Evans, Suzana J. Camargo, Karin L. Gleason, Blair C. Trewin, Andrew M. Lorrey, Nicolas C. Fauchereau, Petra R. Chappell, Steve Ready, Gustavo J. Goni, John A. Knaff, I. I. Lin, Bin Wang, A. Brett Mullan, Alexandre B. Pezza, Caio A.S. Coelho, Chunzai Wang, Chris T. Fogarty, Philip Klotzbach, Jing Jia Luo, Mark A. Lander, Charles P.Chip Guard, Martin O. Jeffries, Jacqueline Richter-Menge, James Overland, Jeff Key, E. Hanna, I. Hanssen-Bauer, B. M. Kim, S. J. Kim, J. Walsh, M. Wang, U. S. Bhatt, Yinghui Liu, R. Stone, C. Cox, V. Walden, Jennifer Francis, S. Vavrus, Q. Tang, Germar Bernhard, Gloria Manney, Jnes Uwe Grooß, Rolf Müller, Anu Heikkilä, Bjorn Johnsen, Tapani Koskela, Kaisa Lakkala, T. Svendby, A. Dahlback, Lori Bruhwiler, T. Laurila, D. Worthy, P. K. Quinn, A. Stohl, A. Baklanov, M. G. Flanner, A. Herber, K. Kupiainen, K. S. Law, J. Schmale, S. Sharma, V. Vestreng, K. Von Salzen, Don Perovich, S. Gerland, S. Hendricks, W. Meier, M. Nicolaus, M. Tschudi, Mary Louise Timmermans, I. Ashik, I. Frolov, H. K. Ha, R. Ingvaldsen, T. Kikuchi, T. W. Kim, R. Krishfield, H. Loeng, S. Nishino, R. Pickart, I. Polyakov, B. Rabe, U. Schauer, P. Schlosser, W. M. Smethie, V. Sokolov, M. Steele, J. Toole, W. Williams, R. Woodgate, S. Zimmerman, J. N. Cross, W. Evans, L. Anderson, M. Yamamoto-Kawai, Chris Derksen, R. Brown, K. Luojus, Martin Sharp, G. Wolken, M. L. Geai, D. Burgess, A. Arendt, B. Wouters, J. Kohler, L. M. Andreassen, Marco Tedesco, J. E. Box, John Cappelen, X. Fettweis, T. S. Jensen, Thomas Mote, A. K. Rennermalm, L. C. Smith, R. S.W. van de Wal, John Wahr, Claude R. Duguay, L. C. Brown, Kyun Kuk Kang, H. Kheyrollah Pour, D. A. Streletskiy, D. S. Drozdov, G. V. Malkova, N. G. Oberman, A. L. Kholodov, S. S. Marchenko, Ryan L. Fogt, Ted A. Scambos, Kyle R. Clem, Sandra Barreira, Steve Colwell, Linda M. Keller, Matthew A. Lazzara, Alberto Setzer, David H. Bromwich, Sheng Hung Wang, Lei Wang, Hongxing Liu, Shujie Wang, Song Shu, Robert A. Massom, Phillip Reid, Sharon Stammerjohn, Jan Lieser, Paul A. Newman, Natalya Kramarova, Eric R. Nash, Michael C. Pitts, Bryan Johnson, Michelle L. Santee, Geir O. Braathen, Garret G. Campbell, Allen Pope, Terry Haran, Ahira Sánchez-Lugo, James A. Renwick, Wassila M. Thiaw, Scott J. Weaver, Lucie A. Vincent, David Phillips, Robert Whitewood, Jake Crouch, R. R. Heim, Chris Fenimore, John Augustine, R. Pascual, Adelina Albanil, J. L. Vazquez, Rene Lobato, Jorge A. Amador, Eric J. Alfaro, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Ana M. Durán-Quesada, Blanca Calderón, Ingrid L. Rivera, Carla Vega, Tannecia S. Stephenson, Michael A. Taylor, Adrian R. Trotman, Avalon O. Porter, Idelmis T. Gonzalez, Jacqueline M. Spence, Natalie McLean, Jayaka D. Campbell, Glenroy Brown, Mary Butler, Rosalind C. Blenman, Arlene P. Aaron-Morrison, Vernie Marcellin-Honore’, Rodney Martínez, Juan Arévalo, Gualberto Carrasco, Christian Euscátegui, Juan Bazo, Juan J. Nieto, Eduardo Zambrano, José A. Marengo, Lincoln M. Alves, Jhan C. Espinoza, Josyane Ronchail, Mario Bidegain, Jose L. Stella, Olga C. Penalba, Khadija Kabidi, Amal Sayouri, Awatif Ebrahim, I. A. James, Francis S. Dekaa, Fatou Sima, K. Alama Coulibaly, Wilson Gitau, L. Chang’a, Christopher S. Oludhe, Laban A. Ogallo, Zachary Atheru, Peter Ambenje, Agnes Kijazi, H. Ng’ongolo, P. Luhunga, Pamela Levira, Andries Kruger, Charlotte McBride, Zo Rakotomavo, Guillaume Jumaux, Katja Trachte, Peter Bissolli, Andre Obregón, Helga Nitsche, David Parker, John J. Kennedy, Michael Kendon, Ricardo Trigo, David Barriopedro, A. Ramos, Serhat Sensoy, Diana Hovhannisyan, Olga N. Bulygina, Mahbobeh Khoshkam, Natalia N. Korshunova, Lamjav Oyunjargal, E. Hyung Park, Fatemeh Rahimzadeh, Madhavan Rajeevan, Vyacheslav N. Razuvaev, Jayashree V. Revadekar, A. K. Srivastava, R. Yamada, Peiqun Zhang, Shotaro Tanaka, Kazuyoshi Yoshimatsu, Hiroshi Ohno, Catherine Ganter, Gregor R. Macara, Simon McGree, Skie Tobin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

239 Scopus citations

Abstract

In 2013, the vast majority of the monitored climate variables reported here maintained trends established in recent decades. ENSO was in a neutral state during the entire year, remaining mostly on the cool side of neutral with modest impacts on regional weather patterns around the world. This follows several years dominated by the effects of either La Niña or El Niño events. According to several independent analyses, 2013 was again among the 10 warmest years on record at the global scale, both at the Earth’s surface and through the troposphere. Some regions in the Southern Hemisphere had record or near-record high temperatures for the year. Australia observed its hottest year on record, while Argentina and New Zealand reported their second and third hottest years, respectively. In Antarctica, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station reported its highest annual temperature since records began in 1957. At the opposite pole, the Arctic observed its seventh warmest year since records began in the early 20th century. At 20-m depth, record high temperatures were measured at some permafrost stations on the North Slope of Alaska and in the Brooks Range. In the Northern Hemisphere extratropics, anomalous meridional atmospheric circulation occurred throughout much of the year, leading to marked regional extremes of both temperature and precipitation. Cold temperature anomalies during winter across Eurasia were followed by warm spring temperature anomalies, which were linked to a new record low Eurasian snow cover extent in May. Minimum sea ice extent in the Arctic was the sixth lowest since satellite observations began in 1979. Including 2013, all seven lowest extents on record have occurred in the past seven years. Antarctica, on the other hand, had above-average sea ice extent throughout 2013, with 116 days of new daily high extent records, including a new daily maximum sea ice area of 19.57 million km2 reached on 1 October. ENSO-neutral conditions in the eastern central Pacific Ocean and a negative Pacific decadal oscillation pattern in the North Pacific had the largest impacts on the global sea surface temperature in 2013. The North Pacific reached a historic high temperature in 2013 and on balance the globally-averaged sea surface temperature was among the 10 highest on record. Overall, the salt content in nearsurface ocean waters increased while in intermediate waters it decreased. Global mean sea level continued to rise during 2013, on pace with a trend of 3.2 mm yr-1 over the past two decades. A portion of this trend (0.5 mm yr-1) has been attributed to natural variability associated with the Pacific decadal oscillation as well as to ongoing contributions from the melting of glaciers and ice sheets and ocean warming. Global tropical cyclone frequency during 2013 was slightly above average with a total of 94 storms, although the North Atlantic Basin had its quietest hurricane season since 1994. In the Western North Pacific Basin, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the deadliest tropical cyclone of 2013, had 1-minute sustained winds estimated to be 170 kt (87.5 m s-1) on 7 November, the highest wind speed ever assigned to a tropical cyclone. High storm surge was also associated with Haiyan as it made landfall over the central Philippines, an area where sea level is currently at historic highs, increasing by 200 mm since 1970. In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide all continued to increase in 2013. As in previous years, each of these major greenhouse gases once again reached historic high concentrations. In the Arctic, carbon dioxide and methane increased at the same rate as the global increase. These increases are likely due to export from lower latitudes rather than a consequence of increases in Arctic sources, such as thawing permafrost. At Mauna Loa, Hawaii, for the first time since measurements began in 1958, the daily average mixing ratio of carbon dioxide exceeded 400 ppm on 9 May. The state of these variables, along with dozens of others, and the 2013 climate conditions of regions around the world are discussed in further detail in this 24th edition of the State of the Climate series.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)S1-S279
JournalBulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Volume95
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atmospheric Science

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