Key takeaways

• Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations jumped by 3.4 parts per million from 2023 to 2024, tying 2015 to 2016 as the highest jump in the record since the 1960s.
• 2015 to 2024 were Earth’s 10 warmest years since records began.
• 2024 was the third-wettest year since records began in 1983.
• The ocean experienced a record-high global average of 100 marine heatwave days and a new record low of nine marine cold spell days.
• For the second consecutive year, all 58 global reference glaciers across five continents lost mass in 2024, resulting in the greatest average ice loss in the 55-year record. In Venezuela, all glaciers have now officially disappeared.

Global temperatures and sea levels reached record highs in 2024 while glaciers lost the most ice of any year on record, according to the 35th annual State of the Climate report released today by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 

This year’s State of the Climate report compiles work from nearly 600 scientists in 58 countries, including more than 20 CIRES scientists. CIRES researchers’ expertise in glaciology, climate science, greenhouse gas monitoring, and ocean dynamics provides much-needed understanding of how Earth’s climate is changing over time. 

“CIRES scientists are world leaders on many climate and environment topics,” said Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist for the National Snow and Ice Data Center at CIRES and an editor of the report’s Arctic chapter. “Our extensive contributions to the State of the Climate report is just one demonstration of how we help to inform leaders, decision-makers, and the public about the world around us—deepening understanding and enabling thoughtful responses to environmental changes.”

Notable findings from this year’s report include:

Earth’s greenhouse gas concentrations were the highest on record. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, Earth’s major atmospheric greenhouse gases⁠,  reached record-high concentrations in 2024. In particular, carbon dioxide concentrations are now growing by an average of 2.4 parts per million every year, compared with 0.6 parts per million each year in the 1960s. 

Record temperatures were notable across the globe. All six major global temperature datasets used for analysis in the report agree that the last 10 years (2015 to 2024) were the 10 warmest on record.