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In May, both Iceland and Greenland experienced record-breaking heat. A new rapid analysis has found that the heat wave in both regions was made worse and more likely in today’s warmer climate.
The analysis was conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers that evaluates the role of climate change in extreme weather events.
On May 15, Egilsstaðir Airport in Iceland recorded a temperature of 26.6°C (79.9°F), breaking previous May records in the country. Across Iceland, May temperatures were 13°C (23.4°F) hotter than the month’s 1991-2020 average.
Meanwhile, the Ittoqqortoormiit station in eastern Greenland reported a temperature of 14.3°C (57.7°F) on May 19, which is 13°C (23.4°F) above the month’s average daily maximum temperature.
“This heat wave was particularly exceptional in that it lasted a long time and it occurred early in the season,” Sarah Kew, report co-author and a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, said during an online briefing.
The scientists combined observed weather data over the past decades with climate models and found that “the 7-day May heat experienced in Iceland is about 3°C [5.4°F] hotter due to human induced climate change,” the authors write.
In Greenland, the hottest day this May was about 3.9°C (7°F) warmer than in a preindustrial climate. Between May 15 and May 21, data also showed that the melting of Greenland’s Ice Sheet increased by 17 times the average. Greenland already loses around 43 billion metric tons of ice annually.
“Both countries reflect the broader Arctic trend for rising temperatures and associated changes in precipitation and hydrology that are beginning to make climate adaptation more pressing,” the authors write.
Similar heat wave events in the region can become 2°C (3.6°F) hotter if warming reaches 2.6°C (4.7°F) by 2100, as projected by some climate models.
They add that “a heat wave in a cold-adapted environment can look quite different from other parts of the world,” and that it influences food security and people’s mobility. In Iceland, the heat caused bitumen in road asphalt to bleed, increasing risks to drivers, while in Greenland, the melting ice sheet caused flooding that damaged roads and buildings.
Maja Vahlberg, report co-author from the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre in the Netherlands, said, “The majority of the population, around 90%, are Inuit whose lives and economies are closely tied to the land, sea and seasonal patterns.”
“Warming waters are also shifting fish stocks, while cod and mackerel are appearing more often, traditional cold-water species like shrimp and halibut are moving further north,” Vahlberg said.
Friederike Otto, report co-author from Imperial College, London, added, “The burning of fossil fuels is a huge driver of these heat waves. And as long as we keep burning fossil fuels, we will continue to see heat waves across the world and heat waves like this.”
Banner image of a glacier in Greenland from NASA Earth Observatory via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).
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