Record 2022 summer heat and glacier melt in Europe: study
April 20, 2023
An EU climate report has logged the most Alpine glacier retreat of any year and the continent's hottest summer on record in 2022. It also said the world's hottest year on record, 2016, might soon be eclipsed.
Glacier retreat was at its fastest on record amid an unusually hot European summerImage: Bernd Juergens/CHROMORANGE/picture alliance
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More glacier ice melted in Europe's Alps last year than ever previously recorded amid the hottest European summer on record, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service reported on Thursday.
The report also found that 2022's summer, marked by drought and heat waves, was the hottest on record in Europe, 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the recent average from between 1991 and 2020. It said Europe had been warming at double the global average in recent years.
Western European temperatures drove the trend: for countries including the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, 2022's average temperatures were the highest on record. For Germany, Belgium, Austria and others, they were the second highest.
Freight ships, for instance coal barges on the Rhine river, were forced to run laden with almost no cargo in late summer as water levels dipped sharplyImage: Ying Tang/NurPhoto/picture alliance
Last eight years the eight warmest on record
The report also noted unusually high temperatures at both poles in 2022.
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"During the latter half of February, Antarctic daily sea ice extent reached a new record low, bypassing the previous minimum reached in 2017," it said.
Meanwhile, to the north in September, temperatures were 8 degrees Celsius higher than usual over Greenland.
Overall, Copernicus classified 2022 as the fifth-warmest year, more than 1 degree Celsius higher than the pre-industrial era proxy figure, with the last eight years the eight warmest years on record.
"The report highlights alarming changes to our climate, including the hottest summer ever recorded in Europe, marked by unprecedented marine heat waves in the Mediterranean Sea and record-breaking temperatures in Greenland," said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Early indications suggest little chance of respite in 2023; authorities in France are warning of a drier summer than the last Image: Huchot-Boissier Patricia/abaca/picture alliance
New hottest year ever in 2023 or 2024?
The monitoring group, based in Reading in the UK, said that it was also possible that the world's hottest year on record, 2016, might soon lose its crown if the El Nino weather phenomenon were to emerge for the first time in years.
"El Nino is normally associated with record-breaking temperatures at the global level. Whether this will happen in 2023 or 2024 is not yet known, but it is, I think, more likely than not," Buontempo said.
Spring has not yet sprung but parts of Europe are already suffering from drought, especially in the south. A lack of rain and snow this winter means water levels in rivers and lakes remain low across the continent.
Image: Luigi Costantini/AP/dpa/picture alliance
Brown instead of blue
It hasn't rained in France for more than a month — the longest winter dry spell since records began in 1959. The main reason is high pressure areas over Western Europe that push the rain clouds away. Climate change could make drought in Europe a permanent phenomenon. Here, at Montjean-sur-Loire, France's longest river, the Loire, has already almost run dry — and it's only March.
Image: STEPHANE MAHE/REUTERS
Another energy shortage?
The water level in the 140-hectare (346-acre) Lac du Chambon reservoir in the French Alps is already very low. France gets 15% of its energy from hydroelectric plants like this one, and is increasingly worried about another impending energy crisis. In the summer of 2022, some of France's nuclear plants had to be shut down temporarily, because there wasn't enough water in the rivers to cool them.
In Toulouse, the Pont des Catalans rises up out of the Garonne River. Already, in some parts of France, no water is coming out of the taps. The government has imposed immediate measures to prepare for what threatens to be another summer of drought. In some French regions, people are already banned from filling pools or washing cars. A national water-saving plan is expected later this month.
In February, the gondolas in Venice sat in the mud at low tide, and some of the smaller canals were no longer navigable. Since then, the situation in the city on the lagoon has normalized somewhat. Last year, Italy's agricultural crops were seriously affected by drought, particularly in the north — and there are fears the damage this summer will be even worse.
Image: Luigi Costantini/AP/dpa/picture alliance
Not enough water — not enough tourists?
The whole of northern Italy is suffering from drought. Lake Maggiore is reported to be only 38% full. Snowfall in the Italian Alps this winter was only half the long-term average, meaning there has scarcely been any recovery since last summer, which saw the worst drought in 70 years. The ongoing drought is also expected to have a negative effect on tourism.
At the end of February, the water in Italy's Lake Garda was so low that people could walk across to the small island of San Biagio without wetting their feet. There has been so little snow and rain this winter that water levels in Italy's biggest lakes have dropped to their lowest in 30 years. Like in France, the Italian government is also planning to impose measures to combat the water shortage.
Image: PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP
Germany: 'Climate change is not letting up'
Sandbanks rear up out of the Rhine near Oberwesel in Rhineland-Palatinate. The river is unusually low for this time of year; here too, in addition to low rainfall, the situation has been exacerbated by the lack of snowmelt from the Alps. Last winter in Germany was the 12th in a row that was too warm. "Climate change is not letting up," Uwe Kirsche of the German Meteorological Service told dpa.
Image: Thomas Frey/dpa/picture-alliance
Drought across Europe, from south to north
On the island of Corsica, the water in the Lac de Tolla is also extremely low. Even countries that normally get a lot of rain have experienced drought this winter. This February was the driest in Britain in 30 years. Experts are very worried about what lies ahead this summer.
Image: PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA/AFP
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Good year for EU solar power, less so for wind
Copernicus' Atmosphere Monitoring Service also reported regional record greenhouse gas emissions, specifically from wildfires caused by the hot summer.
"France, Spain, Germany and Slovenia also experienced their highest summer wildfire emissions for at least the last 20 years, with southwestern Europe seeing some of the largest fires on record in Europe," the report said.
The study also devoted some time to renewable power generation figures and the climate's effect on them, with Copernicus' deputy director Samantha Burgess saying that, "understanding and responding to the changes and variability in renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar, are critical to support the energy transition to net zero."
Because of record levels of solar radiation in much of Europe, solar power generation was slightly above average potential, part of a continuing trend. By the same token, wind power potential availability was slightly below average overall.
Spain is also reporting drought conditions early in spring 2023Image: Emilio Morenatti/AP/dpa/picture alliance
