Summer time 2021 was the most well liked in Europe

A report revealed by the European Union’s Copernicus Local weather Change Service on Friday stated that Europe skilled its hottest summer season on file in 2021, whereas being hit by floods, warmth waves and fires, which confirmed international warming is on a pointy rise.

Lower than three weeks after the publication of the newest IPCC report, which warns that international temperature will attain 1.5°C above pre-industrial ranges throughout the subsequent twenty years, the European Union’s Local weather Change Service has launched one other worrying discovering.

European Union scientists reported Friday that Europe skilled its hottest summer season on file in 2021, with temperatures one diploma Celsius increased than their 1991-2020 common.

Though 2021 was not the most well liked 12 months ever in Europe and the world, the European Local weather Change Service stated in its annual report revealed on Earth Day, “summers have been marked by file temperatures, intense and extended warmth waves and distinctive floods.”

Southern Europe was significantly onerous hit by the summer season warmth wave, with “quite a few temperature data,” in response to the report. In northern Spain, temperatures reached 47 °C, a “nationwide file”, and in Italy, with 48.8 °C in Sicily, a “European file”. “In some elements of Italy, Greece and Turkey, the warmth wave lasted from two to a few weeks,” the scientists added.

In these three nations, excessive temperatures have led to drought. As vegetation change into extra flammable in hotter air, wildfires escape with disastrous penalties. In July and August, fires destroyed greater than 800,000 hectares within the Mediterranean area, in response to Copernicus.

And the phantasm of a colder spring, nonetheless, the spring of 2021 was even colder than typical, which at first appeared reassuring. In line with Copernicus, spring has been “one of many coldest springs prior to now ten years,” with temperatures as much as two levels Celsius under common.

However we won’t be mistaken that: “General, all seasons have warmed dramatically in Europe over the previous a long time. In 2020, we had a really heat spring and heat summer season, however autumn and winter have been the warmest ever, whereas in 2021, spring was cooler than common and summer season the warmest ever,” Copernicus informed France 24.

As well as, common temperatures in the course of the spring of 2021 have been increased than they have been earlier than 1980. Between 1970 and 1980 international warming started to speed up sharply.

European seas haven’t been spared the ravages of local weather change both, significantly the Baltic, the place scientists discovered that in June and July, some elements have been “5°C above common”. The outcomes for the entire 12 months additionally broke data. “Temperatures […] In massive areas of the Baltic Sea and the jap Mediterranean it has not been this excessive since no less than 1993”, famous Copernican scientists.

The unusually heat Baltic Sea seems to be the reason for the floods that hit Germany and Belgium in July. “This led to a excessive stage of humidity, which in flip led to a lower in atmospheric stress, which led to the formation of winds, rain and clouds,” Copernicus defined to France 24. As well as, the “comparatively low velocity of the turbulence” is probably going one other issue within the heavy rainfall, the European Company added. Then the water collected within the Meuse and Rhine rivers, whereas the soil was already saturated with water and will now not soak up rain, inflicting floods that ravaged many nations in Western Europe.

On the identical time, on a world scale, “concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) have continued to extend. [in 2021, with a] A very important enhance” in methane focus.

It’s this enhance in greenhouse gases, together with carbon dioxide and methane, within the environment that’s inflicting international warming. These greenhouse gases soak up extra daylight than mandatory, inflicting international warming.

This phenomenon was felt not solely in the course of the summer season in Europe, however all year long. “Globally, 2021 has been the sixth or seventh warmest 12 months since no less than 1850,” the report stated, including that “the previous seven years have been the warmest on file.”

In line with Copernicus, the temperature of the European continent has additionally elevated by about two levels Celsius since pre-industrial occasions, whereas the temperature of the globe has elevated by 1.1 levels Celsius to 1.2 levels Celsius. The Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change, for its half, is looking for pressing motion to restrict international warming to under 1.5°C – a threshold that should not be exceeded if the Earth is to stay liveable.

This text was translated from the unique into French.