The year 2023 experienced the warmest summer in two millennia.
Climate change is causing an increasing number of weather anomalies, including record high temperatures. New research has found that the summer of 2023 was the hottest in history for northern countries dating back 2000 years.
This discovery is based on a combination of observational data and reconstructions by scientists led by Dr. Jan Esper from the University of Mainz. The average temperature in the northern hemisphere's extratropical regions (30 to 90 degrees north latitude) in June, July, and August was 2.07°C higher than the average value between 1850 and 1900. To determine this, the researchers analyzed the hottest summer temperatures from nine tree-ring chronologies. They excluded southern regions due to limited historical temperature data availability.
Recent reports showed that 2023 was also the hottest year globally since 1940, according to the EU climate change service Copernicus. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the alarming rate of climate change, stating, "Our climate is imploding faster than we can cope with extreme weather events hitting every corner of the planet." The scientists' findings support this notion, as they suggest that 2023 might have been the warmest year in tens of thousands of years. While measurement data was unavailable then, temperature values from that period can be derived from analyzing ancient air bubbles trapped in ice and other sources.
A separate study forecasts that as the world warms, more and more older people will suffer from extreme heat. According to this study, the number of people worldwide aged 70 or over exposed to temperatures exceeding 37.5°C on at least 18 days each year could increase from 14% to nearly 23%, or 246 million by 2050. The number of people over 60 is projected to almost double by 2050, reaching almost 2.1 billion. Populations in the Global South, which are still growing rapidly and have a low average age, will have a significant percentage of elderly citizens.
Older people suffer more from heat extremes because their ability to regulate body temperature declines, they have more chronic illnesses and take medications that can increase dehydration risk. The research team led by Dr. Giacomo Falchetta from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation in Venice combined data on changing age structures in various countries with global warming trends from different greenhouse gas concentration paths. They used the same models and scenarios as the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
By 2050, the climate models indicate that African countries will experience an average of 37 days with temperatures over 37.5°C annually. In Asia, this figure will rise from 15 to 25 for the SSP2-4.5 scenario or 28 in the SSP5-8.5 scenario. The majority of the world's elderly population is estimated to live in Africa and Asia. In Europe, the average number of days with a maximum temperature of 37.5°C is expected to increase to three (SSP2-4.5) or four (SSP5-8.5) by 2050.
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- The extreme heat experienced in 2023, the warmest summer in two millennia, is a consequence of climate change, which is causing an increase in weather anomalies, such as heatwaves.
- The researchers' findings suggest that the increase in CO2 emissions is contributing to global warming, which is resulting in record high temperatures and droughts, posing a significant threat to the health of seniors, particularly in regions with limited access to air conditioning or healthcare services.
- Education about climate change and its effects is crucial to mitigate its impacts, especially as extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and droughts, are expected to become more frequent and severe, leading to increased health risks for seniors.
- The World Health Organization has urged governments to prioritize climate change adaptation policies, such as implementing heatwave early warning systems, improving healthcare infrastructure, and providing temperature-neutral schools and workplaces for seniors, to protect their health during extreme weather events related to climate change.
Source: www.ntv.de
