European heatwave and document temperatures
Summer season is popping up the warmth in Europe. An anticyclone – a high-pressure area that permits warmth to construct – will settle over Italy this week and will carry among the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe. Meteorologists have named the anticyclone Cerberus, one of many hounds of the god Hades and a personality in Dante’s Inferno.
The present document holder for highest temperature in European historical past is 48.8 levels Celsius (119.84 F). That document was set nearly two years in the past, August 11, 2021, in Floridia, Sicily. The world’s highest recorded temperature ever was 56.7 C (134.1 F) in Demise Valley, California, in 1913. The southern U.S. can also be presently underneath a heatwave, with temperatures at Demise Valley anticipated to climb above 120 F.
Satellite tv for pc data land floor temps
ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite has been taking Earth’s temperature from above. The satellite data land floor temperatures, that are hotter than air temperatures that you simply see in forecasts. Land floor temperatures measure the true quantity of vitality radiating from Earth. On July 9 and 10, 2023, among the land floor temperatures exceeded 45 C (113 F), and Sicily had land temperatures over 50 C (122 F). (See gif beneath.) Plus, the satellite took these temperatures simply earlier than midday. The temperatures have been doubtless hotter later within the day.
Land floor temperatures are helpful to scientists in various methods. First, they’re helpful for understanding and forecasting climate and local weather patterns. Second, these readings are useful in monitoring fires. Third, they’re an essential gauge for the perfect use of irrigation on farm crops. And fourth, they support in planning for mitigating warmth in city areas.
A record-setting summer season
Correct land floor temperatures are useful on this already record-setting summer season. June 2023 was the most well liked June on document, and the hottest week on record got here in early July. As well as, Antarctic sea ice is at record lows.
Benjamin Koetz, a mission scientist for ESA, said:
Local weather warming amplified this yr by El Niño severely impacts meals manufacturing, water availability, in addition to our well being. To correctly adapt to those adjustments, we want well timed info at actionable decision. The Copernicus program is offering this with Sentinel-3 and shortly with the Copernicus Land Floor Temperature Monitoring mission at 50-meter decision.
Excessive warmth is the primary weather-related killer. The peer-reviewed journal Nature Medication printed a study on July 10, 2023, exhibiting that greater than 60,000 folks died in 2022 in a heatwave in Europe. Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal noticed essentially the most deaths. Up to now, this summer season is forecast to be worse. Learn more about how to protect yourself in extreme heat.
Backside line: ESA’s Sentinel-3 satellite is maintaining a tally of the European heatwave, recording land floor temperatures that support forecasts and concrete planning.
