New data from the European Union’s climate monitoring service Copernicus has found that Europe was among the regions impacted most by climate change in 2022.
2022 was found to be the fifth warmest year globally, with the scientists of Copernicus stating that the world was experiencing a continuation of a pattern of global warming that has transformed itself into the new normal.
Last year also saw the warmest summer in the history of Europe, as temperatures more than doubled the global average for the past three decades, which is at a faster rate than any other continent.
Not only is the impact of this global warming felt in air temperature but 2022 also saw a rise of 0.3 degrees Celsius in the temperature of the ocean, when compared to the period from 1991 to 2020
Copernicus has suggested that the reason why Europe is impacted severely is due to the fact that land areas are warming faster than the seas, and that it is in relatively close proximity to the Arctic, which experiences Global Warming at a rate of around four times the global average.
This is partly due to the fact that the ice is reflective and absorbs less sunlight, but when it melts it reveals darker areas of land and sea which causes more sunlight absorption, and therefore, warming.
Major impacts of global warming include forest fires, which cause harmful carbon output. France, Spain, Germany, and Slovenia all experienced their highest level of summer wildfire emissions in twenty years.
The deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service Samantha Burgess said “we’re already experiencing climate change now” and highlights the worrying impacts that climate change will have for our planet if serious change does not occur soon.
