News Excerpt: 

A record-breaking 77 countries experienced their hottest year on record in 2023, according to the Global Water Monitor report.

About the report:

• The report is released by the Global Water Monitor Consortium.
• The report, which summarized the state and trends in the global water cycle in 2023, covered information on rainfall, air temperature, humidity, soil and groundwater conditions, vegetation access to water, river flows, flooding and lake volumes.
• According to the professor of Water Science and Management, 2023 was the hottest year on record and this also affected the water cycle in various ways, from intensifying cyclones and other rainfall systems to exacerbating drought and fire activity.
• Globally, we’re seeing an increase in the frequency and intensity of rainfall events and river flooding. But at the same time, there are also more frequent and faster-developing droughts, or ‘flash droughts.

Kay highlight of the report:

• Rainfall 
  • The global water cycle in 2023, was influenced by the shift to El Nino conditions, a climate anomaly that occurs in the Pacific at intervals of 2–7 years.  

• Air temperatures

• • It was also influenced by increasing sea surface temperatures due to global warming. Warming conditions increase the strength and rainfall intensity associated with storm systems such as tropical cyclones. 
  • There were a relatively large number of such events in 2023 and the human and economic toll was large.

• Humidity

• • The year 2023 ranked second in relative air humidity, continuing a trend towards drier average and extreme conditions. 

• Soil & water conditions

• • Despite warmer and drier conditions, high annual soil water conditions were observed in many regions. The water content in the soil over the land area was 3.5 percent above the 1998-2005 average.
  • The report pointed to a long-term increasing trend of soil water content since around 2014, with contributions coming mostly from India, China, Türkiye and several the Sahel countries. This trend, according to the findings, can be driven by rainfall frequency, agriculture and vegetation changes.

• Vegetation access to water, river flows, flooding and lake volumes.

• Vegetation vigour (greenness) over the land area was 4.7 percent above the 2001-2005 average and the highest recorded. This rise is being triggered by a combination of increasing temperatures in cold regions, agricultural expansion and fertilisation from increasing carbon dioxide and other anthropogenic sources.
• Surface water occurrence (including lakes, rivers and other forms of temporary inundation) was the second lowest in two decades. Globally, the water surface occurrence was 7 percent below the 2003-2006 average, the lowest since 2011.
• The sum of river flows in all river basins or global average river flows was 4 percent above the 2001-2005 average. 
• Lake volumes have been increasing over recent decades. Water storage in 2023 increased by 1.5 percent from 2022 after having shown a 7 percent rise since 1984. Canada, the United States, China, Russia, Brazil and India make up about 64 percent of all water in natural and artificial lakes worldwide.
• The average terrestrial water storage, including groundwater, soil water, surface water, snow and land ice, from January to September was 19 millimetres below the 2003-2006 average.

The report presented an outlook for 2024: 

• Higher-than-average precipitation can be expected for eastern Africa and most of Asia and lower precipitation for the western half of South America, the Caribbean, southern Africa and northern and western Australia.
• Central and South America (except southern Brazil and Uruguay), southern Africa and western Australia face the greatest risk of developing or intensifying drought.
• India, along with the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa, northern Europe, China and Southeast Asia and southern Brazil and Uruguay, are unlikely to develop drought conditions for at least several months.
• Instead, these regions witness a greater risk of flooding, landslides and other challenges related to excessive wetness.