The climate threat|Global challenges

 

Coast of Scotland. Peter Morrison/AP  

The climate threat|Global challenges  

Marine heat wave threatens wildlife in the North Atlantic  

The temperature in the sea off the coast of Great Britain and Ireland is up to five degrees higher than normal. Now scientists are warning that the unprecedented marine heat wave could cause mass death among seaweed, fish and oysters, The Guardian reports.  

Man-made global warming and natural climate variations such as El Niño are cited as explanations for the extreme situation. 

- Marine heat waves have occurred in warmer waters such as the Mediterranean, but such anomalous temperatures in this part of the North Atlantic have not happened before, says Daniela Schmidt, professor at the University of Bristol. 

Illustration images. TT  

Europe is warming twice as fast as the Earth on average 

Europe is currently the continent in the world where the warming is proceeding the fastest, shows a new report from the UN agency WMO, which several media reports on. According to the report, warming in Europe has been twice as fast as the average for the planet since the mid-1980s.  

In 2022, temperatures were 2.3 degrees above the pre-industrial average and 16,300 people are estimated to have died as a result of weather and climate-related events in Europe during the year 

- The record heat stress experienced by Europeans in 2022 was one of the main causes of weather-related excess mortality in Europe, says Carlo Buontempo, head of the EU's climate change service Copernicus.  

But the report also points to bright spots. Among other things, 2022 was a record year for renewable energy in Europe and wind and solar overtook fossil gas when it came to energy production.  

Woman cools her brother in a hospital in India. Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP  

The heat wave in Asia  

The death toll rises in India – morgues full in the heat 

Hospitals are overburdened and mortuaries full in two of India's most populous states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, as a result of the severe heat wave in the country. That's what AP writes.  

The death toll is now approaching 170, the majority of the deceased are elderly people. According to the news agency, some families have been asked to take the bodies of their relatives home.  

Hearse driver Jitendra Kumar says that on Sunday he carried 26 bodies. 

- So many people die from the heat that we don't get a minute's time to rest, he says. The heat has also knocked out electricity in some parts of the states, forcing health workers to use books to fan patients.