Copernicus data: “frightening” heat and drought in Europe in 2022

The climate crisis had a “frightening” impact on Europe last year. The alarmist term comes from the scientists who compiled it the annual report on the state of the European climate. In fact, from the data collected by the Copernicus climate change service (C3S) comes further confirmation that the summer of 2022 is among the hottest ever recorded. The annual State of the European Climate Report (ESOTC), published today, underlines that “the results show rising temperatures and the intensification of extreme events and offer an overview of last year’s climate in a long-term context”. . According to the survey, Europe experienced the second warmest year on recordwhile the summer was characterized by the highest temperatures since the beginning of data recording. Much of Europe experienced intense and prolonged heatwaves. Low rainfall has also led to widespread drought. “Temperatures across Europe are rising at twice the global average rate, faster than any other continent in Europe,” the scientists point out.

Also in the report we read that heat waves killed more than 20,000 people and drought withered crops. According to its authors, drought is already expected for many farmers in 2023 and the only way to limit the damage of global warming is to rapidly reduce carbon emissions, as this dire situation would be virtually impossible without global warming. In detail, inSouthern Europe’s population has endured 70-100 days of heat stress, days when the perceived temperature was at least 32°C, taking into account wind and other factors. Overall, the increase in temperatures was twice the global average, faster than any other continent. Over the past five years, the average temperature has been 2.2°C higher than in the pre-industrial era.

The heat and low rainfall have caused a drought that affected more than a third of the continent at its peak, according to the report, making it the driest year on record. The flows of almost two thirds of European rivers were below average. The high temperatures also meant that carbon emissions from summer fires were the highest in 15 years and the European Alps lost record amounts of ice from glaciers.

A frightening consequence of the changed climate change has been precisely the increase in fires. Overall, Europe experienced above-average fire risk conditions for most of 2022, and in particular, scientists from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), who monitor forest fires worldwide, found a significant increase in carbon emissions from forest fires in some European regions during summer 2022, as a result of hot and dry conditions. Estimated total emissions across EU countries for summer 2022 were the highest since 2007. France, Spain, Germany and Slovenia also recorded the highest rate of emissions from summer fires in the last 20 years, with l ‘south-western Europe which has seen some of the largest fires ever recorded in Europe.

“The results are frightening, I have to say, but I think we need to know the truth,” he said Mauro Facchini, responsible for Earth observation at the European Commission. “Extreme events are taking place in Europe more and more. Each of us is a witness”. Charles Buontempo, director of C3S, said: “We are really moving into uncharted territory.” The report should be seen as “a further wake-up call to accelerate our efforts” to reduce carbon emissions, which reached record levels in 2022. Scientists recently predicted that the imminent return of the El Niño climate phenomenon will cause global temperatures to rise “off the charts”.

If we want to find a positive aspect in this catastrophic picture, we can consider the production of solar energy, which is indispensable for abandoning fossil fuels, the main causes of emissions. Indeed, Europe has received the highest amount of solar radiation in the last 40 years, thanks to less cloud cover, which has allowed it to generate above-average levels of solar energy.