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Since the climate data was collected by the EU service Copernicus, no summer in Europe has been as hot as the last
Photo: Olaf Döring / IMAGO
Last summer was a summer of extreme weather: while forest fires were raging in southern Europe, a flood disaster devastated regions in Germany and several neighboring countries.
And: The summer of 2021 was the warmest that Europe has experienced since records began.
This emerges from the current annual report of the EU climate change service Copernicus.
Accordingly, in the summer months of last year it was around one degree Celsius warmer than the average for the years 1991 to 2020.
»Understanding weather and climate extremes is becoming increasingly important«
The Copernicus records date back to 1979.
Recordings from ground stations, balloons, airplanes and satellites are used for the evaluation.
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"2021 was a year of extremes, including the hottest summer in Europe, heat waves in the Mediterranean, floods and calm winds in Western Europe, showing that understanding weather and climate extremes is becoming increasingly important for core sectors of society," said Carlo Buontempo, who Director of the Earth Observation Program.
The extent of the temperature increase varied regionally.
In parts of the Baltic Sea, for example, the annual sea surface temperature was more than five degrees above average.
A provisional European heat record had been measured in Sicily - with 48.8 degrees.
800,000 hectares burned in the Mediterranean – within two months
And the high temperatures contributed to the sometimes devastating disasters of the summer: According to the EU climate change service, the fact that the heat wave in parts of Italy, Greece and Turkey lasted two to three weeks and was dry at the same time favored the development of the numerous forest fires.
In July and August 2021 alone, an area of 800,000 hectares was burned in the Mediterranean region.
This corresponds to half the area of Schleswig-Holstein.
The scientists also published findings on the flood disaster, which cost the lives of more than 180 people in Germany.
The catastrophe was also able to develop in this way because an unusually large amount of rain had already fallen in the previous weeks.
As a result, the soil no longer absorbs enough water.
The water volumes in the Rhine and Meuse catchment areas were estimated to be the largest since 1991.
It is difficult to unequivocally attribute such events to climate change, said the report's lead author, Freja Vamborg.
"But we know that in a warming world we will see more and more such events."
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According to the report, the proportion of climate-damaging greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increased again last year: the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose by 2.3 ppm – by particles per million air particles.
The concentration of the gas methane increased by 16.5 ppb, parts per billion air particles.
This increase is significantly larger than in previous years.
Methane stays in the atmosphere for a shorter time, but is even more harmful than CO₂.
The gas is released, for example, in the oil and gas industry, in landfills and in agriculture.
The reasons for the methane increase would now have to be examined more closely.
vki/dpa