By: Jovia Zhang
In May of 2022, France experienced some of its most sweltering temperatures, and in some cities, record-high heat. In June, countries such as Spain, Italy, and other European countries were blasted by another heat wave alongside France. This month, Poland and other areas in Eastern Europe are suffering from another episode of extreme, scorching heat.
Now, temperatures across Europe are rising higher than ever, either at or near triple digits. The heat is spreading from Spain to the British Isles and eastward, sparking wildfires along the way while drowning most of the continent in drought.
Even with all this barely-endurable heat, there are still two months of summer left to go.
Scientists have said the heat waves in Europe are more intense and frequent than before, increasing at a faster rate than in any other part of the planet, even the Western United States.
Scientists and researchers have concluded that global warming does play a part in these intense heat waves, as temperatures are about two degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) higher now than they were in the late 19th century on average. The late 19th century was before spewing carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gasses became popular and were used everywhere on Earth.
But global warming isn’t the only factor that’s affecting Europe’s temperatures. Aspects such as the atmosphere’s and the ocean’s circulation could also be attracting heat waves to Europe.
According to the New York Times, “No two heat waves are precisely the same. The current scorching temperatures that reached into England and Wales on Monday were caused in part by a region of upper level low-pressure air that has been stalled off the coast of Portugal for days. It’s known as a “cutoff low” in the parlance of atmospheric scientists, because it was cut off from a river of westerly winds, the mid-latitude jet stream, that circles the planet at high altitudes.”
Low-pressure zones have a tendency to draw air towards them. In this case, a low-pressure zone has been taking in air from North Africa at a steady pace while also bringing it into Europe. “It’s pumping hot air northward,” said Kai Kornhuber, a researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of Columbia University.
Dr. Kornhuber contributed to a study published this month that found, over the past four decades, that the intensity and frequency of heat waves in Europe have increased; this change, the study found, can be linked to the jet stream. Jet streams are strong winds blown in narrow and shallow passages and they are located in the upper troposphere. Researchers found that in multiple cases of European heat waves, the jet stream had temporarily split in two, giving weak winds and high-pressure air room to flow through, causing a buildup of extreme heat.
Efi Rousi, a senior scientist at Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany and the lead author of the study, said that the current heat waves seem to be connected with this type of natural phenomenon. She added that a “double jet” has been resting over Europe for the past two weeks, and could be a possible cause for the cutoff low.
It’s possible that there may be other reasons for Europe’s disastrous heat waves, and some of these are being debated by scientists. According to an article published in the New York Times, “Natural climate variability can make it difficult to tease out specific influences, Dr. Rousi said.”
Dr. Kornhuber said that warming in the Artic could also be a reason for European heat waves. The Artic warms at a faster rate than other places in the world, causing the difference in temperature between it and the equator to decrease. This in turn decreases summertime winds, making weather systems stay in place for longer. Kornhuber also stated that scientists found an increase in persistence.
Dr. Rousi published a paper last year showing that as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, (one of the world’s major ocean currents) weakens, changes in atmospheric circulation can lead to drier summers in Europe.
Shockingly, according to an article written by Karl Mathiesen, Zia Weise, and Pieter Haeck published in POLITICO, “between 76,000 and 128,000 people have died in heat waves” in the last four decades.
“It’s really how we deal with it,” said Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross climate center and a member of the EU’s scientific advisory board on climate change. “In a way, those hundreds of lives lost during heat waves are all wasted lives.”
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Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/climate/europe-heat-wave-science.html
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-climate-change-global-warming-heat-wave-adaptation/ – :~:text=Heat is Europe’s deadliest natural,data shared with POLITICO shows.