Are we already experiencing the hottest summer in history?

Heat wave in Spain: Crowded beaches where not even an ant can fit, confused tourists looking for non-existent shade in Puerta del Sol, bearded men bathing half-naked in public fountains in cities, dogs splashing in all the water sources they can find, air-conditioned shops in polar cold, and streets where children experiment with cooking a fried egg on the asphalt. All these pictures It has been seen since Thursday across the entire peninsula, but all They have an atmosphere of deja vu.

In fact, we have already seen this, every year it is the same, there are cities that are almost unlivable in July and August, and the news about this is repeated year after year: “Special notice from AEMET”, “Deaths due to extreme heat”“These are the most vulnerable people,” “These are them.” Measures to protect yourself“, and so on. But if every year seems like more of the same, that’s the heat. There is nothing strangeScientists don’t think that way.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – established in 1988 to collect and analyse all available evidence on the subject, and consists of Hundreds of scientists from 195 countries– It states that “the warming of the atmosphere, oceans, and land due to human influence is unequivocal” and that “human influence has caused climate warming.” at an unprecedented pace In at least 2000 years.”

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Moreover, the current increase in temperatures can only be compared to the so-called Holocene extremeWhich occurred 6,500 years ago and is considered the warmest period in the past 100,000 years. At that time, when humans were already crowding everywhere and Cities of Mesopotamia When we first started settling down, the planet was between 0.5 and 3 degrees warmer than it is today, although this was not uniform around the world. For example, Arctic sea ice was much less abundant. The present deserts of Central Asia were once forests. Due to heavy rainfall. Before that time, the “last interglacial period, About 125,000 years ago“It is the next most recent candidate for a warming period,” the IPCC research notes.

Since then, in the last two thousand years, the average global temperature has decreased and remained stable in a largely temperate climate… Until the nineteenth century and industrialization. There began the planet’s warming: “In all the past four decades It was warmer in a row. Compared to any previous decade since 1850. The global surface temperature was 1.09°C higher in the period 2011-2020 than in the period 1850-1900, and The increases were greater. “More on land than in the ocean,” the IPCC reports. “The estimated increase in global surface temperature is due primarily to the warming from 2003 to 2012.”

the Conclusion In the scientific world, there is a consensus – except for climate deniers, of course, who are an overwhelming minority and are not taken seriously by other researchers -: Today’s global temperature is 1.1 degrees higher Compared to the pre-industrial era (1850-1900), the human factor is responsible for 1.07 degrees of this total. The problem is not just the temperature rising, but the accelerating and “unnatural” rate at which it is happening.

“The frequency and severity of extreme heat waves has almost certainly increased (including heat waves) in most terrestrial regions since then. 50’swhile extreme cold events (including cold waves) have become less frequent and less severe. It is highly unlikely that some of the recent hot flashes Scientists highlight that “the climate changes observed in the past decade would have occurred without human influence on the climate system.”

In Spain, according to data from State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) The summer of 2023 was the third warmest since records began (1961), surpassed only by the summers of 2022 and 2003. That is, we have experienced – suffered – two of the warmest summers in decades in the past three years. It is Last year there were four heat waves.with a total of 24 days in this case. “Daily maximum temperatures were on average 1.2°C above the normal value, while minimum temperatures were 1.4°C above average,” confirms AEMET. In 2024, at least, heat waves will start later, until July.

definitely,We live in heat Like we’ve never seen – or felt – before? Well, unless you’re a merchant in a city. Uruk About 6,000 years ago, it was The answer is yes..

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