Unprecedented warmth: A look at Spain's exceptional summer of 2022
The warming of the global climate system is expected to result in significant socio-economic stress, primarily through the occurrence of extreme weather and climate events, with the potential for severe impacts on societies. This was evidenced by the vulnerability of European nations during the 2003...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10045/136640 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 |
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ftunivalicante:oai:rua.ua.es:10045/136640 2023-08-27T04:10:59+02:00 Unprecedented warmth: A look at Spain's exceptional summer of 2022 Serrano-Notivoli, Roberto Tejedor, Ernesto Sarricolea, Pablo Meseguer-Ruiz, Oliver Luis, Martín de Saz, Miguel A. Longares, Luis A. Olcina, Jorge Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Análisis Geográfico Regional y Geografía Física Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Interuniversitario de Geografía Clima y Ordenación del Territorio Grupo de Investigación en Historia y Clima 2023-07-20 http://hdl.handle.net/10045/136640 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 eng eng Elsevier https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/RYC2021-034330-I info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/101024389 Atmospheric Research. 2023, 293: 106931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 0169-8095 (Print) 1873-2895 (Online) http://hdl.handle.net/10045/136640 doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Heat waves Drought Breaking records Extreme anomalies Paleoclimate perspective info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2023 ftunivalicante https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 2023-08-08T23:22:18Z The warming of the global climate system is expected to result in significant socio-economic stress, primarily through the occurrence of extreme weather and climate events, with the potential for severe impacts on societies. This was evidenced by the vulnerability of European nations during the 2003 summer heatwave, which resulted in the death of tens of thousands of individuals due to heat-related complications. In this analysis, we examine the summer of 2022 in Spain, a Mediterranean country that is among the most impacted by the effects of climate change. A distinct pattern of the subtropical ridge in the 500 hPa geopotential height, which is typically linked to the occurrence of heatwaves in the Iberian Peninsula (IP), and the atmospheric blocking in the North Atlantic region facilitated the southerly flow of exceptionally warm air masses from Africa towards the IP, contributing to the sustained high temperatures throughout the summer season. Our results show that Spain experienced record-breaking temperatures in nearly half of the country that favored more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting heatwaves compared to previous historical records available from 1893. In general, despite normal rainfall conditions, the extremely high temperatures led to intense drought conditions in most areas. Finally, the paleoclimatic records suggest that the average summer temperature of 2022 was unprecedented within the last 700 years, and the driest within the last 279 in NE Spain. These findings highlight the need for measures to mitigate the effects of heat on at-risk populations, and to increase resilience and adaptation to climate change in the future. RSN is supported by grant RYC2021-034330-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”. ET is funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (ITHACA-101024389). Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic RUA - Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante Atmospheric Research 293 106931 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
RUA - Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalicante |
language |
English |
topic |
Heat waves Drought Breaking records Extreme anomalies Paleoclimate perspective |
spellingShingle |
Heat waves Drought Breaking records Extreme anomalies Paleoclimate perspective Serrano-Notivoli, Roberto Tejedor, Ernesto Sarricolea, Pablo Meseguer-Ruiz, Oliver Luis, Martín de Saz, Miguel A. Longares, Luis A. Olcina, Jorge Unprecedented warmth: A look at Spain's exceptional summer of 2022 |
topic_facet |
Heat waves Drought Breaking records Extreme anomalies Paleoclimate perspective |
description |
The warming of the global climate system is expected to result in significant socio-economic stress, primarily through the occurrence of extreme weather and climate events, with the potential for severe impacts on societies. This was evidenced by the vulnerability of European nations during the 2003 summer heatwave, which resulted in the death of tens of thousands of individuals due to heat-related complications. In this analysis, we examine the summer of 2022 in Spain, a Mediterranean country that is among the most impacted by the effects of climate change. A distinct pattern of the subtropical ridge in the 500 hPa geopotential height, which is typically linked to the occurrence of heatwaves in the Iberian Peninsula (IP), and the atmospheric blocking in the North Atlantic region facilitated the southerly flow of exceptionally warm air masses from Africa towards the IP, contributing to the sustained high temperatures throughout the summer season. Our results show that Spain experienced record-breaking temperatures in nearly half of the country that favored more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting heatwaves compared to previous historical records available from 1893. In general, despite normal rainfall conditions, the extremely high temperatures led to intense drought conditions in most areas. Finally, the paleoclimatic records suggest that the average summer temperature of 2022 was unprecedented within the last 700 years, and the driest within the last 279 in NE Spain. These findings highlight the need for measures to mitigate the effects of heat on at-risk populations, and to increase resilience and adaptation to climate change in the future. RSN is supported by grant RYC2021-034330-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”. ET is funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (ITHACA-101024389). |
author2 |
Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Análisis Geográfico Regional y Geografía Física Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Interuniversitario de Geografía Clima y Ordenación del Territorio Grupo de Investigación en Historia y Clima |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Serrano-Notivoli, Roberto Tejedor, Ernesto Sarricolea, Pablo Meseguer-Ruiz, Oliver Luis, Martín de Saz, Miguel A. Longares, Luis A. Olcina, Jorge |
author_facet |
Serrano-Notivoli, Roberto Tejedor, Ernesto Sarricolea, Pablo Meseguer-Ruiz, Oliver Luis, Martín de Saz, Miguel A. Longares, Luis A. Olcina, Jorge |
author_sort |
Serrano-Notivoli, Roberto |
title |
Unprecedented warmth: A look at Spain's exceptional summer of 2022 |
title_short |
Unprecedented warmth: A look at Spain's exceptional summer of 2022 |
title_full |
Unprecedented warmth: A look at Spain's exceptional summer of 2022 |
title_fullStr |
Unprecedented warmth: A look at Spain's exceptional summer of 2022 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Unprecedented warmth: A look at Spain's exceptional summer of 2022 |
title_sort |
unprecedented warmth: a look at spain's exceptional summer of 2022 |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10045/136640 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/RYC2021-034330-I info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/101024389 Atmospheric Research. 2023, 293: 106931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 0169-8095 (Print) 1873-2895 (Online) http://hdl.handle.net/10045/136640 doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 |
op_rights |
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106931 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Research |
container_volume |
293 |
container_start_page |
106931 |
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1775353418408263680 |