Tropical cyclones, smoke from dozens of fires in the US on its way to Europe, and even an incipient
medicane
(as cyclones in the Mediterranean with tropical characteristics are called) that threaten to hit Greece hard.
All happening at the same time.
The September 16 portrait made from NASA's Worldview tool shows a planet agitated by extreme phenomena that in some cases are increased in intensity by climate change, as scientists have been warning for years.
The wave of fires puts climate change in the US campaign
This season is on the way to going down in history, at least in terms of the number of tropical cyclones.
To such an extent that the list of names assigned to these phenomena is about to be completed in order to improve their monitoring.
On September 14, as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recalls, the US National Hurricane Center had five active warnings for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin: Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy and Vicky.
The last time such a high number of these phenomena were concentrated was in September 1971.
"The 2020 season in the Atlantic is being very intense in terms of the number of tropical cyclones that have been generated, to date there are already 20 and there are still between one and a half and two months of the season," says Ricardo A. Álvarez, former director from the International Center for Hurricane Research at Florida International University.
The official hurricane season begins in June and does not end until November.
And for each season, the WMO has prepared 21 names, arranged in alphabetical order, to name each of the cyclones.
So far only once, in 2005, has this limit of 21 cyclones been exceeded one season.
But it is expected that during the next two days cyclone number 21 of 2020, which will be called Wilfred, can form.
It will be then when the official list is finished.
And you will have to use the Greek alphabet;
the following will be called Alpha (22), Beta (23), Gamma (24), Delta (25) ... "The use of the Greek alphabet has only happened once before, in 2005, when six more names were used", explains the WMO.
"That was a record year with devastating hurricanes that included Katrina, Rita and Wilma," adds this organization.
Although there is some discrepancy, Álvarez, like many other scientists, is clear that climate change is related to the intensity of tropical cyclones, which are called hurricanes when they are strongest.
"Global warming causes the ocean to absorb more heat, which translates into warmer surface waters, which increases the
fuel
available for the formation of hurricanes," he explains.
"The models suggest that climate change will contribute to making the strongest hurricanes more intense and numerous," explains Juan Jesús González Alemán, a researcher at the Faculty of Physical Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid.
But those same models, he explains, point to a possible reduction in the total number of less virulent tropical storms.
González Alemán maintains that this 2020 could become a record season in terms of the total number of cyclones, but not in terms of their intensity.
And that abnormal increase in the number of storms would not, in principle, be attributable to climate change.
The smoke reaches Europe
But in the NASA image made from the daily photos taken by the satellites of this agency, not only those cyclones and tropical storms are appreciated.
Also, the smoke from the dozens of fires that are registered in the United States, another phenomenon that is fueled by global warming, according to scientific studies.
In the satellite images, the route that this smoke follows is perfectly appreciated.
And scientists from the Copernicus Atmospheric Surveillance Service have monitored its movement and detected "that it has traveled 8,000 kilometers to reach northern Europe," explains this European Commission service.
"The fires burning in California since mid-August and in Oregon and Washington since early September have emitted massive volumes of thick smoke that have affected a large area," adds Copernicus.
This body, which also has an observation system through satellites, has been tracking fires on the planet since 2003.
And the conclusion is that never in these 18 years had an episode of this size been recorded in that area of the United States.
The
medicane
of Greece
A little further east, in the eastern Mediterranean, the NASA image still captures one more extreme phenomenon, which has put Greece on alert.
It is the formation of a
medicane
, the name given to the intense storms, similar to tropical cyclones, in the Mediterranean.
"It is expected that on Thursday night it will become a category 1 hurricane," says González Alemán, who specializes in this type of phenomenon.
This researcher warns that it is not usual for them to acquire that strength and also identifies it as one of the consequences of climate change.
"It could do a lot of damage."
González Alemán explains that
medications
of this intensity are "very rare" and that in the last 40 years only five cases had been registered.
But he adds: "In the last four years there have already been three."
To all this almost apocalyptic portrait another element is added: a tropical storm located to the west of the peninsula. "It is being monitored to see if it turns into a tropical cyclone, but it is unlikely to happen," says González Alemán. Which does not mean that these phenomena have not already managed to reach the Peninsula in recent years. "It is not normal that in the Mediterranean there is a
medicane
and to the west of the Peninsula a tropical storm at the same time", concludes this researcher at the Faculty of Physical Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid.