The thermometer is the basic instrument for doctors to diagnose a patient's state of health. Climatologists use the same technique. And according to their calculations, the diagnosis is clear: our planet has a fever. This is not new and unfortunately it is not about to stop. This is in essence the alarmist conclusion that can be drawn from reading the annual report drawn up by the Copernicus service, made public on Wednesday.
According to researchers from this European center dedicated to medium-term weather forecasts, we experienced the hottest year on record in Europe in 2019. A fact that has become almost common: eleven of the hottest twelve years that the Old Continent has known occurred since the year 2000.
Mercury rising, rising
"The fact that the hottest years ever known have been observed on the globe during the last ten years is a worrying trend and the signature of climate change" estimates Jean-Noël Thépaut, director of services of Copernicus. The hottest year on record for Europe in 2019 was closely followed by 2014, 2015 and 2018. Climatologists also noted that “all seasons have been warmer than average, with summer being the fourth warmest since at least 1979 ”. In parts of Europe, temperatures were above normal, 3 ° C to 4 ° C. The intense heat waves of June and July also resulted in record temperatures in some European countries, including France and Germany. "These remarkable heat waves are becoming even more extreme than they would have been if there had been no climate change," underlines Jean-Noël Thépaut.
A record amount of sunshine
"In 2019, the number of hours of sunshine in Europe reached its highest level since at least 1983, although there were some regional variations" detail climatologists. The report mentions "a clear upward trend in hours of sunshine over the past 40 years across the continent". While this record amount of sunshine was observed throughout the year, below-average cloud cover was noted during the first six months. The sunniest regions were Spain, parts of France, Central Europe and most of Eastern Europe.
The Arctic has lost ... the North
"The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet" observes Jean-Noël Thépaut. And the year 2019 was no exception to the rule. For the European Arctic, although temperatures have been lower than the peaks observed in recent years, Copernicus says that "the upward trend continues". “In 2019, the air temperature in this region, both at sea and on land, was 0.9 ° C above the average. Then, a short heat wave hit Europe at the end of July, causing temperature records in northern Scandinavia and a record melting of surface ice in Greenland. ”
Greenhouse gases keep going on and on
Over the past year, concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) continued to increase. "Global net emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen dioxide follow a constantly increasing trend, a pattern that has been established in recent decades" perhaps we read in the Copernicus report. Scientists say it is only possible to find such high concentrations in 2019 by going back millions of years in history. "Once released into the atmosphere, these greenhouse gases can remain there for hundreds of years," sighs Jean-Noël Thépaut. And since the trend is not to reduce emissions, there is no reason why global warming should stop. ”
