Climate Threat Global Challenges

Study: Antarctic Ice Sheets Have Grown

A new study shows that Antarctic ice sheets increased between 2021 and 2023, reports The Guardian. During the 2010s, Antarctica lost around 142 billion tons of ice each year, partly due to global warming. The new study shows that ice sheet increased by around 108 billion tons during the three-year period.

According to the researchers, the increase is due to significantly more snowfall in Antarctica. Extreme snowfall is also due to climate change and global warming, since a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, the newspaper writes.

The ice sheets in the region have been shrinking since the 1980s, and according to the researchers, it would take about 50 years of the same amount of snowfall as now for the ice sheets to return to previous levels.

Every Third Resident of Tuvalu Has Applied for a Climate Visa

Almost a third of Tuvalu's 10,000-plus residents have already applied for a climate visa in Australia, as the island nation is increasingly threatened by rising sea levels, AFP reports.

The countries signed the groundbreaking agreement on climate visas last year. The idea is that 280 Tuvaluans will be offered the visa each year, but when the application opened last week, over 3,100 applications were received.

Two of the nine islands that make up Tuvalu are already largely completely underwater, and researchers fear that the country could be completely uninhabitable within 80 years.

Extreme Weather in Europe
Heat Warning in Europe: "Be Ready to Cancel"

Really high temperatures are expected in Europe, both Swedish and international media report. The forecast points to temperatures above 40 degrees in some places in southern Europe.

– The worst will be in Spain and southernmost France, where the heat will not let up for a while, says meteorologist Erik Höjgård-Olsen to SvD.

A heat wave with temperatures as high as 41 degrees is expected in several Balkan countries. Among other things, in the Croatian capital Zagreb, there is a high risk of extreme heat, according to the country's meteorological institute, writes AFP. Parts of Serbia and Bosnia are also facing heat challenges.

"Be prepared to cancel outdoor activities," says Bosnia's meteorological institute.

Forest fires in Greece
Several villages evacuated from fires in Greece

Several coastal communities outside the Greek capital Athens have been ordered to evacuate after ground fires in the area, reports Reuters.

Eight planes, five helicopters and 28 other vehicles are currently said to be fighting the flames, which have been spread by strong winds in the area.

The incident occurs at the same time as a so-called heat dome, which traps warm air and causes extreme temperatures, has formed over the Mediterranean area, writes the Financial Times.

The phenomenon is expected to become increasingly common in line with human-caused climate change, Michael Mann, a professor in the department of environmental studies at the University of Pennsylvania, told the newspaper.