'Warming Arctic causes heat waves, floods in Europe'

A report released on Wednesday by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) states that 2024 was the warmest year since observations began, a record spanning 175 years. The report identifies the rise in atmospheric CO 2 caused by people as the main factor behind climate change. It also says global sea level rose by more than twice as much per year from 2015 to 2024 as during the earliest ten years of satellite measurement, 1993 to 2002. In addition, it states that 48% of emissions from human activity between 2014 and 2023 stayed in the air. This pushed up the concentration of the gas.

Philipp Assmy, who is a researcher at Norsk Polarinstitutt (the Norwegian Polar Institute) with a senior position, commented on the findings for the Barents Observer. He said the planet has seen climate change in earlier geological periods, but the current pace is different. Past rapid shifts unfolded across thousands of years, whereas those now taking place unfold over decades.

Assmy's research is centred on Svalbard, the quickest-warming location on Earth, according to the Barents Observer. In June last year he and his team did fieldwork there and were surprised by record warmth, which let them work outdoors in only a T-shirt. Heat is melting Svalbard's glaciers. That adds to the rise in global sea level.

Assmy put the current rise at almost 5 mm per year. He said the figure sounds small but matters for millions of people who live on coasts. Even a slight increase in sea level makes floods and storms much more severe, with consequences for human life and infrastructure.

He added that warming in the Arctic triggers processes farther south, including extreme heat waves and floods in Europe, and cold spells in North America. The article also says researchers consider it still possible to improve the situation. Steps mentioned are consuming less in daily life, driving or flying less, and replacing fossil fuels with alternative green energy. The aim is to cut man-made CO 2 in the atmosphere.