The focus of the report, presented on Wednesday with the European Earth Observation System Copernicus in Reading, is on the period 1991 to 2021.
In these 30 years, temperatures in Europe have risen by an average of 0.5 degrees per decade. They are rising particularly rapidly in the Arctic and in the higher northern latitudes of the world. In addition, the air above continents warms up faster on average than above oceans.
According to the report, the Alpine glaciers lost about 100 feet (30 meters) of ice thickness between 1997 and 2021. The Greenland ice sheet is melting and accelerating sea level rise. In the summer of 2021, for the first time since the measurements started in the 1980s, rain instead of snow was recorded at the highest point of more than 3,200 meters.
Heat, wildfires and extreme events are increasing
“As the warming trend continues, exceptional heat, wildfires, floods and other impacts of climate change will negatively impact societies, economies and ecosystems,” the WMO said.
However, the WMO praises the European Union as a model region when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In the EU, emissions fell by 31 percent between 1990 and 2020. “In Europe we are seeing global warming live and this shows us that even well-prepared societies are not safe from the effects of extreme weather events,” said WMO President Petteri Taalas.
(SDA)