Huge heat drives water issues
Print
The Earth's record-breaking heat is having serious effects on its water cycle.
According to the 2024 Global Water Monitor Report, the growing frequency of devastating floods, persistent droughts, and other water-related disasters worldwide.
Rising sea surface temperatures are intensifying tropical cyclones and droughts in regions like the Amazon Basin and southern Africa.
These conditions, compounded by global warming, also caused heavier downpours and slower-moving storms, as observed in deadly flash floods in Europe, Asia, and Brazil.
The World Meteorological Organization has confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record, a distinction held for four consecutive years.
Approximately four billion people across 111 countries experienced their warmest year yet, with global air temperatures 1.2℃ above early 21st-century levels and 2.2℃ higher than pre-industrial averages.
“Water systems across the globe bore the brunt,” says Professor Albert van Dijk of ANU, the report's lead author.
“2024 was a year of extremes but was not an isolated occurrence. It is part of a worsening trend of more intense floods, prolonged droughts, and record-breaking extremes.”
The report details the severe toll of water-related disasters in 2024, which claimed over 8,700 lives, displaced 40 million people, and caused economic losses exceeding US$550 billion.
Examples include catastrophic flooding in Brazil that resulted in more than 80 fatalities and 300 millimetres of rainfall in a single event.
Southern China saw massive displacements as the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers overflowed, damaging crops worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In Spain, 500 millimetres of rainfall in eight hours caused devastating flash floods.
Droughts were equally crippling.
The Amazon Basin saw record-low river levels disrupting transportation and hydropower, while wildfires consumed over 52,000 square kilometres of forest in September alone, releasing significant greenhouse gases.
In southern Africa, maize production dropped by more than 50 per cent, leading to food shortages for 30 million people and widespread blackouts due to reduced hydropower output.
Professor van Dijk said there is a need for preparation and adaptation in the face of these worsening trends.
“We need to prepare and adapt to inevitably more severe extreme events. That can mean stronger flood defences, developing more drought-resilient food production and water supplies, and better early warning systems,” he said.
“Water is our most critical resource, and its extremes - both floods and droughts - are among the greatest threats we face.”
The findings in the report were derived from data collected via thousands of ground stations and satellite systems.
The Global Water Monitor initiative represents a collaboration among various public and private organisations worldwide, offering near real-time insights into critical water-related variables, such as rainfall, soil moisture, river flows, and flooding.
