In the fall, it rained heavily, but in the winter there was no snow. The glaciers of the Alps have already lost 10 percent of their mass within two years.
The European Union’s climate research service Copernicus says that in 2023, the effects of climate change were still visible throughout Europe, and extreme weather events affected millions of people.
Copernicus is a joint project of the European Space Agency and the European Commission, whose Sentinel satellites collect images and observations from around the globe for the use of researchers, companies that use space data, and authorities.
According to Copernicus, the year 2023 was the warmest or second warmest year ever in Europe, depending on the data. Temperatures were higher than average for almost the whole year, including the warmest September in the history of measurements.
Deputy director of the service Samantha Burgess reported earlier this year that 2023 could be the hottest for tens of thousands of years.
The heat causes health problems in southern Europe
According to a new report by Copernicus, the number of adverse health effects associated with extreme weather and climate events is increasing.
Heat-related mortality has increased by about 30 percent in 20 years. Heat deaths are estimated to have increased in almost the entire European region.
Health risks and adaptation to heat vary from country to country. The report of the Copernicus program announces the need for the health care system to adapt to the health threats brought by climate change.
Long-term heat stress can reduce the quality of life of long-term patients and increase the risk of heat-related diseases, such as heat stroke, especially in older age groups.
The seas are warming, the rivers are flooding
In ocean surface temperatures, the year’s average was the highest in the measurement history. In addition, in June, a heat wave was measured west of Ireland in the Atlantic Ocean, during which the sea surface temperature rose five degrees Celsius above normal.
Average seawater temperatures rose to the highest readings in the history of measurements that began in 1980 in various parts of the southern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and off the British Isles. Surface temperatures were also higher than usual in the Baltic Sea.
According to Copernicus, it rained about seven percent more than the average year in Europe. High rainfall affected river flows, exceeding the high flood threshold in a third of the European river network.
Record flows were observed during autumn storms, for example, in the Loire, Rhine and Danube waterways. International Disaster Database EM-DAT estimated that the floods affected the lives of 1.6 million people and caused large economic losses.
However, it snowed less than usual in a large part of Europe, especially in Central Europe and the Alps in winter and spring. As a result of less snowfall and summer heat waves, the glaciers in the Alps shrank heavily. In the past two years, the Alps have lost about ten percent of the remaining volume of their glaciers.
In the Arctic region, the year was the sixth warmest in recorded history. After 2016, the five warmest years in the history of measurement have been measured in artis land areas. The ice cover of the Arctic Ocean was also smaller than usual for most of the year.