The unprecedented heat that we are experiencing so far this month of October in Spain may be another indicator of climate change, after the torrid summer, in which we have had temperatures similar to those of the previous summer. Now, an international team of researchers that has analyzed the temperatures recorded in our country during the summer of 2022 has come to the conclusion that it was the hottest in the last 700 years and that this has led to the appearance of more intense heat waves. and long-lasting and a situation of extreme drought, especially in the northeast of the country.
The National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), belonging to the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), participated in the study and its results have been published in the journal Atmospheric Research. Scientists have highlighted the need for policymakers to adopt measures that help mitigate these very negative effects of climate change on the environment and health.
“In the last twenty years, heat waves and drought episodes in Spain have become more and more frequent, but 2022 was an exceptional summer in this regard, breaking temperature records. This fact was favored by the arrival to the Iberian Peninsula of extremely warm air masses from Africa more frequently and more persistent than usual,” explains Ernesto Tejedor, researcher at the MNCN-CSIC and one of the authors of the study.
“The analysis revealed an increase in sea surface temperature of 3.3 °C; 2.1 °C in average temperature; of 2 °C in cities and an increase of four days in the duration of heat waves”
“To confirm the uniqueness of this period, we compare the temperature and precipitation data for 2022 with those recorded by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) in 75 different stations for 130 years, in the case of the oldest station,” he explains. Tejedor, who adds: “the analysis revealed an increase in sea surface temperature of 3.3 °C; 2.1 °C in average temperature; of 2 °C in cities and an increase of four days in the duration of heat waves.”
Extreme drought and deaths as a result of heat waves
According to Tejedor, “although the precipitation data were similar to those usual in the summer period in the Mediterranean, the high temperatures caused an increase in evapotranspiration, leading to a situation of extreme drought.”
The researchers also compared the temperature recorded in the summer of 2022 with climate reconstructions obtained through tree rings found in northeastern Spain, and this analysis revealed that, with very high probability, 2022 was the warmest and driest summer of the last 700 and 279 years, respectively.
The heat waves of the summer of 2003 already demonstrated Europe’s vulnerability to rising temperatures, causing hundreds of deaths. For this reason, the authors of the study warn of the need to take preventive measures. “Although the summer of 2022 represents an extreme anomaly in the country’s climate history, there is a pattern of increasingly warmer summers since the beginning of the 21st century that increases the probability that this anomaly will be repeated every few years. Therefore, it is essential that policies and plans to mitigate the effects of climate change begin to be established, especially in cities where the general heat islands will especially affect the most vulnerable population. Some of what we propose are the creation of climate refuges and plans to improve resilience and adaptation to climate change,” concludes Tejedor.
Source: National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC)
