Reading time: 2 minutes – Spotted on The Daily Beast
Will 2024 be another record year for Europe? The continent, which is warming twice as fast as the global average, has experienced its three hottest years on record since 2020, underline the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European climate agency Copernicus.
“In 2023, Europe witnessed the largest wildfire on record, one of the wettest years, severe marine heatwaves and widespread devastating flooding”said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus’ climate change department.
This phenomenon is largely explained by the fact that the continent includes a large proportion of land, which itself is warming faster than the oceans. Due to depth, heat is lost more quickly in water than on land, because when the ocean warms, its surface evaporates.
The south, the most affected region of the continent
If the European thermometer is rising faster than elsewhere, it is also due to the geographical location of the continent. Europe is located at mid and high latitude. However, this is also where the Arctic regions are located, which are warming three to four times more intensely than the global average.
“The excess heat melts the ice on the continent and the sea ice. You remove a white surface and replace it with a dark surface, this is called the albedo effect. White surfaces reflect solar energy and therefore absorb less heat than rock-dark surfaces.explains to TF1 climatologist François Vimeux, research director at the Research Institute for Development (IRD).
The year 2023 was marked by extreme weather conditions, which in turn fueled heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods. Temperatures have also contributed to the melting of glaciers on the continent. The Alps have lost around 10% of their ice over the past two years. But it is southern Europe that is most affected.
Due to drier soil and reduced evaporation, warming is amplified there. The reduction in cloud cover on the continent also partly explains this phenomenon. Clouds help reflect sunlight, and therefore attenuate the heat that emanates from it.
Southern Europe is particularly vulnerable to forest fires, as well as the effects of heat and water scarcity on agricultural production, outdoor work and health, according to the European Environment Agency. human. According to scientists’ forecasts, in 2100, warming could reach +4°C compared to the current climate.
