By: Katya Surapuraju
August 7th, 2022
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using GEOS-5 data from the Global Modelling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC and VIIRS day-night band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership.
Heat waves are no new phenomenon, but have been more prevalent and dangerous these past two months in the northern hemisphere. June and July of 2022 have been excruciatingly hot, especially in many parts of Europe and China due to climate change. This year's heat waves have broken several long standing temperature records with the UK reaching 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in history. Western European countries such as Portugal, Spain and parts of France have been experiencing a combination of heatwaves and droughts making it harder to combat the recent spike in wildfires across the countries.
Deepti Singh, a climate scientist at Washington university says that "The likelihood of getting a heat wave is increasing simply because it's warming. And that's happening pretty much anywhere across the globe." In the 1980s concurrent heat waves only occurred 20-30 days each summer but this number has increased sixfold in frequency due to global warming.
Scientists don't always link heat waves to climate change; however, in May, scientists at World Weather Attribution conducted a historical data analysis and found out that climate change has made recent events 30 times more likely. The 2018 National climate assessment has found that the frequency of US heat waves has tripled since the 1960s and that the average heat-wave period has tripled since the 1960s. The average heat waves period has also increased by 45 days. The United Nations’ intergovernmental panel on climate change expects a similar trend across the world.
Due to the heatwaves and rise in the temperature due to global warming, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, The UK, and France have been experiencing raging wildfires. Emergency services are battling wildfires across Europe in the midst of mass evacuations. Climate change has been a major contributing factor for these wildfires, climate change increases hot and dry conditions that help fires spread faster, burn longer and rage more intensely.
Europe has reported 1,000 heat related deaths and many others were forced to flee from their homes due to the wild fires. These dire consequences of climate change have been making life for many extremely difficult. Scientists warn that if we keep continuing down this path, we will keep seeing more extremes in climate.
Sources:
“Heatwaves and Fires Scorch Europe, Africa, and Asia.” NASA, NASA, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150083/heatwaves-and-fires-scorch-europe-africa-and-asia.
Al Jazeera. “Why Are Wildfires Raging in Europe?” Explainer News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 21 July 2022, www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/21/wildfires-rage-in-europe-what-where-and-why.
“Here's How This Year's Heatwaves Are Impacting the World, and How We Can Prepare for the Future.” World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/heat-waves-climate-change-europe-northern-hemisphere/.
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