WMO report sea level rise and record ocean temperatures 2026, Digi Mart USA News (Antalya, Turkey): According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), global sea level has reached its highest value since records began, while sea surface temperatures broke monthly records in 2026. The data from the United Nations agency were released on Monday, November 9, as part of the opening events of COP31 in Antalya, Turkey.
According to the study, between January and September of this year, the average global surface temperature was approximately 1.47 °C above the pre-industrial average. However, the WMO warned that this figure is likely to rise further before the end of the year due to warming caused by El Niño.
How has sea level risen in recent years, according to the WMO? The report, titled “State of the Climate Update for COP31,” notes that the rate of global sea level rise has accelerated since the start of satellite records.
Its analysis shows the average rate rose from 2.4 millimeters per year (mm) between 1993 and 2002 to 3.9 mm per year between 2017 and 2026.
The increase is attributed to greater melting of glaciers and ice sheets, along with greater thermal expansion of the upper ocean layers. The WMO explained that global mean sea level continued rising this year, with the highest values since satellite measurements began in 1993 recorded between June and August 2026.
The agency noted that the sharp rise over the past 12 months could be related to El Niño-linked changes, including the shift of rainfall from land toward the ocean in the western tropical Pacific.
Why has the rise in sea level accelerated? The WMO also offered an explanation for why sea level has been rising faster than projected by standard models.
While calculations had pointed to melting land ice and thermal expansion of the upper ocean as the main factors, new measurements have produced a different answer. The gap was detected from 2017, when satellite records showed the sea rising faster than the sum of both factors.
This gap has been explained by recent research, including work led by French space geodesist Anny Cazenave published this year, which indicated that the additional rise responds to warming of deep ocean waters below 2,000 meters. Researchers note that although abyssal zones are extremely cold, accumulated heat has begun to penetrate to those depths, causing the water mass to expand and push the surface level above projections.
How could rising sea levels affect Mexico? The study does not project specific impacts on Mexico from the exceptionally high global temperatures, melting ice masses and rising sea levels, though general projections on these effects exist.
The report notes that about 11% of the world’s population living in low-lying coastal areas, roughly 900 million people, is potentially exposed to coastal hazards and sea level effects.
This highlights the population along Mexico’s coastline, which according to the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) measures 11,122 kilometers (km), excluding Mexico’s islands. Of that, 7,828 km border the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, while 3,294 km face the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
In total, 17 of Mexico’s 32 states border maritime zones.
As a second potential impact, the study notes that the rest of the country, as part of El Niño’s effects, could continue to be affected by changes in rainfall and temperatures.
