Geneva, Jul. 10, (dpa/GNA) - Researchers are concerned that high water temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean can lead to an increased risk of extreme weather events in Europe.
The North Atlantic is one of the most important drivers of extreme weather conditions, both in Europe and on the east coast of North America, the head of climate observation at the World Weather Organization (WMO), Omar Baddour, explained on Monday in Geneva.
With such high, sometimes extreme temperatures, the risk of heavy rain events and hurricanes increases, Baddour explained.
According to WMO data, surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean were 0.9 degrees Celsius above the long-term average in June, and were as much as 1.36 degrees higher in the north-east (roughly from Ireland to northern Spain).
There were heat waves in the sea off Ireland with temperatures up to 5 degrees higher than the average for previous years before the temperature fell again, the data revealed.
High ocean temperatures and the dramatic decline in Antarctic sea ice extent are deeply troubling, Michael Sparrow, the WMO’s director of climate research, added.
“It is clear that at the moment the warming we are seeing in the North Atlantic does not seem to be connected to El Niño, not directly. So we are still trying to understand why we are seeing such an extreme warming in the North Atlantic sudden collapse of the Westantarctic Ice Sheet.”
“This is obviously something that is concerning the scientists but we do not have the evidence to say we are entering some kind of tipping point at the moment because this is still new and we don t want to make suppositions without having all of the evidence to hand which may take some time,” Sparrow explained.
GNA