Focus | Europe comprehensive sound alarm what happened? How big is the biggest crisis in the US West being affected?

Rare extreme heat and dry weather are showing the most dangerous side.

The first is Europe, adding the food crisis. The latest report by French agricultural consulting giant Strategie Grains expects EU corn production to fall to 55.4 million tons in the 2022-2023 crop season, perhaps the lowest level in 15 years, down more than 20 percent from a year earlier. In the fall and winter of 2022, eu food prices could soar again. Mini Reflectors, Idc Connectors and Bike Wheel Reflectors should be noted.

The European Commission's Joint Research Center has warned that Europe could suffer the worst drought in about 500 years. Separately, Aschbacher, director-general of the European Space Agency, said that if climate change is not valued, Europe could cost tens of billions of dollars this century.

Perhaps the biggest potential risk to extreme temperatures in Europe is that the rate of melting of Arctic glaciers is accelerating. Local time on August 11, the Washington post quoted the natural communications-the earth and the environment, the latest research said the arctic warming is much faster than many scientists expected, the arctic is one of the worst global warming region, by the end of July, the Arctic Svalbard 40 billion tons of ice has melted into the ocean.

The United States is also facing an epic drought. According to the latest data from the US Drought Monitor, 55 percent of the western United States are now above the severe drought level. Several US media outlets said it was the worst drought in the founding of more than 200 years.
Europe suddenly "sounded the alarm"

A rare high temperature and dry weather has made the European food crisis worse.

The latest report by French agricultural consulting giant Strategie Grains predicts that EU corn production will fall to 55.4 million tons in the 2022-2023 crop season, perhaps the lowest level in 15 years, with a more than 20 percent year-on-a-year decline. The forecast is down 15 percent from 65.4 million tonnes in July, suggesting the threat of the drought.

The report says the prospects for a 2022 corn harvest across Europe are deteriorating sharply, and will hit its lowest output since 2007.

The production outlook for other crops is also not promising. Strategie Grains forecasts that overall EU grain production will fall by 8.5 per cent in the 2022-2023 crop season. Among them, soft wheat production is expected to fall 5 percent to 123.3 million tons, while barley production is expected to fall 3.7 percent to 50 million tons, both below the five-year average.

The reason for such pessimism is that this rare round of drought has affected almost all of the EU's major food suppliers: France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and others, in western and south-central Europe, which have had no significant rainfall for nearly two months.

Italian rice farmers say the seedlings are dying and dying in hot and dry weather, producing only 30 percent of last year.

Spain, which supplies 50% of the world's olive oil, was not immune. Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas warned that this year's olive harvest would be significantly lower than in previous years, predicting for olive production to fall by a third.

A sharp drop in grain production is bound to affect the EU's food supply, with Strategie Grains forecasting a gap of 100,000 tonnes and 200,000 tonnes in 2022.

As a result, the European food forecast already predicts that food prices in the EU may continue to soar in the fall and winter of 2022.

In addition, parts of the US Midwest, the world's largest corn producer, are also suffering from hot and dry weather, raising concerns about its production cuts.

Global grain production is also expected to fall this year, with wheat production potentially falling 0.8 percent to 738.4 million tons and corn production down 3.6 percent to 1.13 billion tonnes, according to the Strategie Grains.
Latest warning: the worst drought in 500 years

More worryingly, the drought in Europe may continue, not even rule out the possibility of further deterioration.

According to the latest data from the European Drought Observatory, 47 percent of the EU's land is now under a drought warning, while 17 percent is already at a higher level. Overall, more than 60% of EU land is in a crisis caused by drought.

Europe may suffer from the worst drought in about 500 years, as warned by Andrea, a researcher who collects data for the European Drought Observatory, Sky News reported.

Andrea pointed out that the European drought in 2018 was very severe, and that at least there were no similar droughts in the past 500 years, which in its experience could be more extreme than in 2018.

In different countries, the drought in Spain is particularly severe. Spain's reservoir capacity has continued to decline since August, leaving only 40 percent of its capacity, 20 percentage points below the average capacity for the same period in the past decade.

Italy is also one of the worst affected by the drought, with the largest river, the —— Po River, which has fallen to its lowest level in 70 years. The government has declared a state of emergency in the Po River region, which accounts for more than a third of Italy's agricultural production.

France is suffering from the worst drought in history, severely affecting drinking water, agricultural irrigation and energy supplies, and water in more than 100 cities and towns. Local farmers have warned that milk supplies on the market could be affected this winter if the drought continues.

This rare drought is causing a series of negative effects on the European economy. The director-general of the European Space Agency has warned that without watching for climate change, Europe could lose tens of billions of dollars by this century, or outweigh the negative effects of the energy crisis.
The red flags of the Arctic

Perhaps the biggest potential risk to extreme temperatures in Europe is that the rate of melting of Arctic glaciers is accelerating.

The Washington Post is warming much faster than many scientists have expected, citing a new study published in the journal Nature Communications-The Earth and the Environment (the Nature journal Communications Earth and Environment), according to CCTV News.

Studies show that the Arctic is one of the worst global warming regions, with the Arctic Svalbard Islands experiencing the hottest June month on record. At one point, the temperature in the Arctic Circle soared to 32.5 degrees Celsius in July.

Separately, the study analyzed temperature trends in the Arctic Circle from 1979 to 2021 and found that warming in the Eurasian parts of the Arctic Ocean, especially in the Barents Sea, was seven times the global average.

The extreme heat in the Arctic once made the world nervous, and the topic of "The Arctic can already wear short sleeves" has become a hot topic.

New data show that the average annual temperature in the Barents Sea region has climbed by 2.7 degrees Celsius every 10 years over the past 20 to 40 years, making the Barents Sea and its islands the fastest warming place on Earth.

Such high temperatures are accelerating the melting of Arctic glaciers. By the end of July, 40 billion tons of ice in the Arctic Svalbard had melted into oceans, according to the latest research data from the journal Nature Communications-Earth and the Environment.

In addition, the ice sheet covering Greenland, the world's largest island, is melting faster. Researchers at the University of Texas said the total amount of melting of the Greenland ice sheet was staggering due to rising temperatures, with even the ice melting in front of them being heard.

According to official sources, most of Greenland is located in the Arctic Circle, and about 80 percent of the island is covered by ice sheets, the second largest in the world, covering nearly 1.8 million square kilometers, after the Antarctic ice sheet, and the annual average temperature is below 0 degrees Celsius.

From June to early September, it is the ablation season of the Greenland ice sheet. But since July 2022, unusually high temperatures in Europe have accelerated the melting of the ice in Greenland. Researchers have warned that if the negative effects of climate change, such as high temperatures, continue, the Greenland ice sheet could melt further, and global sea levels could rise by 7.5 meters, researchers said.
The biggest crisis in the American West

Across the ocean, the US is also facing an epic drought.

About 6 percent of the western United States is extremely dry, as defined by significant losses in local crops and pastures, according to the US Drought Monitor (USDM), and overall water shortages.

In addition, 23 percent of the western United States is in extreme drought, ranking below "extreme drought"; 26 percent is in severe drought, water shortages will occur regularly, and local governments will impose water restrictions.

That means 55 percent of the western United States is currently above severe drought. Several US media outlets said it was the worst drought in the founding of more than 200 years.

In particular, the most populous state, —— California, has 100 percent of its regions reported drought, with 97.5 percent experiencing severe drought or above.

Southern California residents have been asked to reduce water use by 20 percent, while Governor Gavin Newsom said at a late July meeting that more work is needed on water resources, and how to access, store and distribute it will require the state to work together.

In addition, Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, also sounded the alarm. Water Lake Mead has dropped sharply in the past 20 years, according to satellite images released by NASA in late July. As of July 18, Lake Midd was only 27% of its maximum water level, the lowest level since 1937.

 


Post time: Aug-18-2022