The Mediterranean is heated 20% faster than the global average and sea heat waves are increasingly frequent, which makes the temperature increase at 0.4 degrees Celsius every decade since 1980, as reported on Tuesday the Euro-Mediterranean Center Foundation on climate changes (CMCC).
The agency has published a report for International Mediterranean Sea Day highlighting that heat waves in the region, in which 500 million people live in 22 countries, have increased in frequency, duration and intensity.
This, alleges, contributes to an increase in the surface temperature of the sea of approximately 0.4 ° C per decade since the 1980s, thus exceeding the overall average of the oceans.
“These extreme events are no longer an exception, but part of a worrying trend that has resulted in numerous episodes,” said the director of Research on Regional Oceanic Prognosis Systems in the CMCC, Emanuela Clementi.
Last June, the temperatures of the Mediterranean surface reached record levels, with peaks that exceeded 4 ° C on the coasts of France and Spain.
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The Mediterranean Sea is heated 0.4 degrees per decade since 1980
“This year, the temperature in June was above the average in almost the entire basin, with some areas in the western area registering anomalies of up to +5 ° C with respect to the reference period,” Clementi added.
For its part, the researcher Giulia Bonino said that, since the early 80s, the Mediterranean has been heating approximately 0.4 ° C per decade, faster than the overall average of the oceans and that it has been precisely that heating that has caused more frequent and severe marine heat waves in the last 20 years.
The agency also warned that heat waves are linked to “mega -capital in southern Mediterranean Europe”, since extreme temperatures favor forest fires of “large scale and high intensity” capable of destroying forests, damaging habitats and threatening agriculture and tourism.
In the new study led by the CMCC, ‘the growing link between heat waves and mega -government: evidence of countries in southern Mediterranean Europe’, it is noted that the increase in heat waves raises the risk and severity of these fires in countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece, because dry conditions and high temperatures are combined to create ideal circumstances for large -scale fires.
To deal with this situation, CMCC scientists bet on advanced climatic models, early alert systems and the use of artificial intelligence to improve prediction and response to these phenomena and help communities adapt and protect themselves against climate change.
With EFE information.
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