The Mediterranean Sea experienced the longest heat wave since 1981 between 2022 and 2023. Exceptional data emerges from the project’s research CAREHeat (marine heatwave detection and threats), financed by the European Space Agency (ESA), created in Italy by ENEA and Cnr and published in the magazine Environmental research letterswhich aims to develop new methodologies to predict and identify heat waves and understand them propagation the S impacts on the environment, biodiversity and economic activities, such as fishing and aquaculture.
In research, the satellite data with whoever he comes from in situ observations made by Lampedusa spa, the only site in Europe capable of providing information on the interactions between vegetation, atmosphere and ocean both in carbon exchanges and in all the processes and energy exchanges that regulate the climate of the region. Furthermore, through the use of cutting-edge modeling simulations and data processing systems, the researchers were able to characterize the anomaly that affected the period in question.
The Mediterranean Sea remains a hotspot of climate change
As we have already said several times, the Mare Nostrum is considered a real one hot spots of ongoing climate changethat is, one of the areas of our planet where the effects of global warming are accelerated and amplified, thus manifesting themselves more rapidly and intensely than elsewhere.
But what do we mean by a marine heat wave? Just as happens with heat waves on land, anomalous warming of the sea occurs, with above-normal values persisting for days or weeks. Unfortunately, with the global climate crisis, we are facing more intense, more frequent and longer-lasting marine heatwaves.
As if that were not enough, heat waves in the Mediterranean, as in all other basins, cause damage not only to local ecosystems, but also to our economy: the anomalous increase in temperatures causes an increase in stress for underwater life, causing the death. and even deeper biodiversity losses.
Between May 2022 and May 2023, the worst heat wave since 1981
The summer of 2022 is remembered for being one of the hottest and driest ever recorded in Europe: the tenacious persistence of anticyclonic conditions of African origin – which we know are associated with the sun, stable and warm weather – has caused a notable increase in temperatures not only on the continent, but also on the surface of the sea.
In early spring 2022, Mediterranean surface temperatures were within the climatic norm for the period, but from May onwards the temperature began to increase significantly. From the 8th of the same month the anomaly jumped towards 1.5°C in less than a week. The warming was exceptional especially in the western sectors, where temperatures were reached locally 4°C higher compared to normal. In the following weeks, new drops and rises in temperatures followed one another. In July 2022 an intense heat wave affected the Western Mediterranean and the Ionian Sea: in this phase the anomalies reached 5°C difference. In the following months the overall anomaly always remained between 1 and 1.5°C until October. Between November and December the heat wave seemed to be coming to an end, but there was a further increase in anomalies, with a new peak in January 2023.
Even if the peaks are comparable to those reached over the years hot summer 2003according to scientists, this intense marine heat wave was decidedly longer: the 2003 one lasted from June to November, the 2022 one lasted 12 months.
The causes of the anomalous heat wave in the Mediterranean
The exceptional duration of the marine heat wave also contributed to the increase vent, considered one of the “atmospheric forcings” that affect the seas and oceans. The wind, inducing a vertical mixing of heat between the sea surface and the underlying layers, meant that excess energy was stored below the surface, thus favoring the persistence of warm anomalies for several months.
To this was added the autumn and winter atmospheric configuration which has experienced substantial persistence and prevalence of anticyclonic conditionswith an absence of rain and snow, extending the heat wave into the climatically colder months.
Gianmaria Sanninoresponsible for the Models and Technologies Division for the reduction of human impacts and natural risks of ENEA, commented on the data of this research by stating:
The CAREheat results put just some of the signs of climate change before our eyes, but we must be aware that we are only at the beginning of a broader process and that we are faced with signs of what is to come more and more frequently. In this context, research is and will be a key element to inform and guide future environmental policies, as COP28 has finally established: the results of the latest Conference of the Parties in Dubai will in fact guide the updating of national action plans for climate for 2025, for more ambitious actions and targeted financing.
2024-01-12 01:17:01
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