Heat waves across Europe

Anupama Nair

www.mediaeyenews.com

This year, there were unprecedented heatwaves across Europe and North America. Canada witnessed a record temperature of nearly 49°C. Now Europe is again going through a sweltering climate. Europe and North America from the start of the millennium had been witnessing such temperatures. It is the effect of Global Warming.

What is Global Warming? Global warming is an aspect of climate change, referring to the long-term rise of the Earth’s temperatures, mainly from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, that pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The main gases that cause the greenhouse effect include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor (which all occur naturally), and fluorinated gases (which are synthetic). Global warming is expected to have far-reaching, everlasting and distressing consequences for planet Earth.

Josef Werne, a professor of Geology and Environmental Science at the University of Pittsburgh, stated “We can observe this happening in real time in many places. Ice is melting in both polar ice caps and mountain glaciers. Lakes around the world, including Lake Superior, are warming rapidly — in some cases faster than the surrounding environment. Animals are changing migration patterns and plants are changing the dates of activity”. Scientists project that extreme weather events, such as heat waves, droughts, blizzards and rainstorms will continue to occur more often and with larger intensity due to Global Warming.

We can see from the start of the millennium, each year from 2014 has been recorded as the hottest year in History. The year 2021, broke all previous records. Most of the continents in the Northern Hemisphere recorded record temperatures in June. A heat dome was created in the United States and Canada in June, causing temperatures as high as 47°C. I am not talking about Delhi or Lahore but Canada, a place where Summer is always pleasant.

What is a heat dome? A heat dome is formed when the atmosphere acts as a lid or cap and traps hot ocean air beneath it. It is an area of high pressure stuck over a region. According, to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, heat domes formation is more likely during the La Niña years. This year is, unfortunately, a La Niña year. Due to the temperature discrepancy, winds blow dense, tropical western air eastward. That warm air eventually becomes stuck in the jet stream, a circulation of air that travels counterclockwise around the globe, and ends up on the Western Coast of the United States. Heat dome works like a lid on a pot, trapping hot air mass underneath. And this feature is often blamed to be responsible for long-lasting and deadly heat waves around the world. Often a very significant heatwave develops underneath with temperatures well above normal, challenging some heat records.

The heat waves bring a lot of sunlight and sinking air that heats up as it compresses. Western Canada usually experiences such heat waves in July or August beginning, however this year it had occurred as early as June. Lytton, a town in British Columbia recorded a temperature of 47°C on 28^th June this year — which was the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada as per NASA's Earth Observatory. This year, record heat was reported in Europe too. Countries like Denmark and Sweden reported sweltering heat.

As you are aware, countries closer to the equator (zero degrees latitude) have warmer temperatures year-round compared to countries farther north or south of the equator. Countries that are further north in the Northern Hemisphere or south in the Southern Hemisphere experience four seasons and a wide range of temperatures, including significantly colder temperatures in the winter. Because of the Earth's tilt on its axis, the polar regions receive the sun's rays at a slanted angle, however, the equator receives the rays more directly over a smaller area, making the rays more concentrated and hotter.

The most intense heatwave of the year is underway across southeastern Europe, with the highest temperatures between 42–45°C recorded from southern Italy, Greece and western Turkey over the last few days. As we head into early August, the heatwave is expected to intensify even more and may challenge the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe. So, for sure, Summer is not a time to visit Europe or North America anymore. While July was very hot across the southern and southeastern parts of the European continent, the month ended with extreme heat this week and continued to increase over the weekend. The worst heat has developed across southern Italy, Greece, and Turkey, as well are surrounding countries Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, southern Serbia, and Bulgaria.

The temperatures observed during a heatwave are typically well above normal and often break all the existing records, as it happened several times this year already. The ongoing weather pattern across the southeastern part of Europe is forecast to continue through early August, and extend the most intense heatwave of 2021 even further. As we are heading into the first week of August, the heatwave is, forecast to increase further. Not a single cloud was there to limit the extreme heating from the Sun. The minimum temperature recorded was around 35 °C.

Strong and occasionally intense heatwaves are not uncommon in Europe, if we just remember the historic heat in western Europe in 2019 or similar in the past. The ongoing heatwave in the southern Balkan peninsula, especially in Greece, is the worst in recent years. The previous time it was this hot in Greece was in July 2017 when Heraklion, the gateway to Crete, recorded 45.9°C, which was the highest temperature recorded in Greece since 2004.

The all-time highest temperature in Greece is 48.0°C in Athens and Elefsina, more than 40 years ago and Greece is the hottest country in Europe followed by Portugal with 47.4°C. Spain is the next hottest country with 47.3°C

With heat waves in the land, the temperatures of the sea have also warmed up. Seas across the Baltic region, report more than 6 °C above normal. The Atlantic Ocean around the UK and Ireland are also 2 to 4 °C above normal for the end of July which is rather impressive given the lack of any significant heatwaves over western Europe so far this summer. Both the sea and lake temperatures are warming up a lot this summer. The Mediterranean sea has nearly heated up 3°C above long-term average sea temperatures in many areas.

It is important to note that our cells start to die off at temperatures of around 41°C to 45°C but, it’s sometimes possible to survive higher temperatures as long as we stay at home in the comfort of our air conditioners and keep ourselves hydrated.

All I  can say is if we do not control Global Warming, temperatures will become unbearable by the end of the century.