London, Apr 22 – Europe experienced the warmest year on record in 2020, while some parts of the Siberian Arctic recorded 6 degrees Celsius above average, according to the annual report on the State of the European Climate (ESOTC 2020) published this Thursday by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
The fourth edition of this report details the climatic conditions at a global and European level during the past year, and seeks to “bridge the gap between science and society,” the director of Copernicus services at the European Center indicated in a meeting with the media. of Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Jean-Noel Thépaut.

The study shows that temperatures in the Old Continent continue their warming trajectory, and that, on a global scale, 2020 is one of the three warmest years since records have been had, a record that has been beaten consecutively for six years.

In the case of Europe, in 2020 the annual temperature rose 0.4 ºC above the warmest years of the last decade, especially in autumn and winter, when a new record was reached with an increase of 3.4 ºC compared to the mean of the reference period, from 1981 to 2010.

WARMING IN THE ARCTIC
Copernicus Senior Climate Sciences Scientist and ESOTC 2020 Editor-in-Chief Freja Vamborg highlighted that the report not only focuses on meteorological values ​​but uses all of Copernicus’ monitoring capabilities, such as data from its satellites.
Vamborg warned about the situation in northeast Europe, which experienced a “particularly warm” 2020, with winters that exceeded the usual average by 9ºC, an increase that had consequences in areas near the Baltic Sea, where it hardly snowed.

The report indicates that northwestern Europe experienced one of the “driest springs in recent years” last year, after experiencing a winter of heavy rains. This change was reflected in the river discharge of the Rhine basin, the smallest in recorded history.
However, in early October 2020, storm “Alex” arrived, with “unusually high” rains that tripled the usual average rainfall, broke daily records in countries such as the United Kingdom or France and even caused flooding in some regions of Western Europe. .

For its part, the Siberian Arctic “is warming at a higher rate than the rest of the planet,” warned Vamborg, adding that 2020 was “by a large margin” the warmest year to date, with temperatures up to 6 ° C higher. higher than usual.
On the other hand, the month of March produced a “polar vortex” of great magnitude in this region, which led to a record depletion of the ozone layer in the northern hemisphere, he said.
The anomalous 2020 climate in the Arctic also caused sea ice to reach “historical lows”, as well as an increase in the number of forest fires and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

“UNEXPLAINABLE” INCREASE OF METHANE
Precisely, the concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane (CH4), reached the highest levels since the records began in 2003, even with the reductions caused by the paralysis of some sectors during the pandemic
Of particular concern is the accelerated increase in methane emissions (0.8% more than the previous year), which according to the director of the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), Vincent-Henri Peuch, “has no real explanation” and Therefore, it will be evaluated more carefully to obtain more data.
Copernicus, based in Reading, UK, is the European Union’s flagship program for Earth observation, providing up-to-date information on the planet and the environment, in collaboration with Member States and other European bodies.

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