ENG: More drought, more heat waves and more torrential rains, predictions for the future climate in Spain
José Antonio Suárez López
SABER MAS ENGLISH
The predictions of the IPCC (UN) point to an increase in droughts in the Mediterranean: for each degree that the temperature increases, the rainfall will be reduced by 4 percent, that is, between 5 and 20 percent, so they should be promoted other forms of agriculture that better maintain soil moisture, such as regenerative agriculture.
David del Campo, spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) also states that «the torrential rains are increasingly torrential, especially in points on the peninsular Mediterranean slope».
In addition, the past meteorological summer has been the hottest in the series, which began in 1961. According to AEMET data, last meteorological summer (June, July and August 2022) in Spain was the warmest with an average anomaly of +2.2 ºC.
This means having exceeded the previous warmest summer by 0.4 ºC, which was, until now, in 2003. A total of 42 days in heat waves, spread over three episodes, define an unprecedented situation in Spain, while in capitals such as Barcelona 40 torrid nights have been recorded (with minimums of 25 degrees) until August 27.
“This is a summer where we can clearly see what climate change has in store for us. The climatic situation has been forced and intensified by warming of human origin, without any doubt”, summarizes Manola Brunet, climatologist and professor of Geography at the Rovira i Virgili University, expresses to La Vanguardia. In addition, a study by the University of Southampton (United Kingdom) warns of the possibility that the global sea level will rise three meters by the year 2100.
If the sea level rises three meters, a large part of Barcelona, Malaga, A Coruña or Santander would be flooded, Doñana would be lost, like most of the Rías Baixas, and the Ebro delta would disappear. Finally, the Spanish Ministry of the
Environment states that 75 percent of Spanish soil is in the process of desertification and it is expected that 20 percent of what is safe today will be at risk within 50 years. Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and practically all of Levante already have a large proportion of land that is susceptible to degradation.
With data from Aemet, La Vanguardia and National Geographic.
