Asia, including Japan, is warming faster than the global average, as the trend has nearly doubled since the 1961-1990 period and many countries in the region observed their hottest year on record in 2023, according to a U.N. weather agency.
The annual mean near-surface temperature over Asia last year was the second highest on record, particularly high from western Siberia to central Asia and from eastern China to Japan, with Japan seeing its hottest summer on record, the World Meteorological Organization said in its report released in late April.
WMO Secretary General Celeste Saluo pointed out in the report that the record-breaking weather hit the region along with a barrage of extreme conditions, ranging from droughts and heatwaves to floods and storms.
"Climate change exacerbated the frequency and severity of such events, profoundly impacting societies, economies, and most importantly, human lives and the environment that we live in," Saluo said.
The report also shed light on the impact of climate change on sea surface temperatures and ocean heat.
Marine heatwaves occurred in a large area of the Arctic Ocean, in the eastern Arabian Sea and in the northern Pacific, and this lasted three to five months, the report said.
The sea surface in the areas of the Kuroshio current system, a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin, as well as that in other seas, is warming more than three times faster than the global average.
Experts pointed out that global warming on oceans has contributed to the rapid shift in the geographical distribution of fish, with many of the fish relocating toward colder waters due to rising water temperatures.
In waters around Japan, significant drops in the catches of saury and Japanese common squid, for example, have been observed lately, while the northward shift of yellowtail and Japanese Spanish mackerel has been observed.
"It's possible that the rate of warming in some regions may be too fast for fish to adapt, and so relocating may be their best coping strategy," said Carolin Dahms, lead author on a separate study by the University of Glasgow.
Shaun Killen, senior author of the study, said that though relocation to cooler water may allow these species to persist in the short term, it is necessary to keep a close eye on how food webs and ecosystems will be influenced by these changes.
Related coverage:
Central Tokyo logs 28.1 C on March 31, record-high temperature for March
2023 marks Japan's hottest year on record, 1.29 C higher than average
