The climate crisis is affecting our planet to such an extent, summers in the Northern Hemisphere could last half a year before 2100, scientists have warned.
This does not mean longer days lying in the sun, but dramatic effects on human health, agriculture and ecology.
While an extended period of balmy weather may be attractive at first, such a large movement in the seasons has the potential to cause great disturbance to ecosystems that are often well-balanced in terms of times and temperatures.
From extended heat waves and wildfires, to changing migration patterns affecting the food chain, the study concludes that if global warming continues at current levels, the risks to it will not be humanity is only getting harder over time – and the changes are already happening.
Recorded and projected trends in the Northern Hemisphere seasons. (Wang et al. 2020, Geophysical Research Letters, AGU)
“Summers are getting longer and warmer while winters are shorter and warmer as a result of global warming,” says physicist Yuping Guan, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “More often, I read some non – seasonal weather reports, for example, false spring, or May snow, and the like.”
The researchers looked at daily historical climate data from 1952 to 2011, identifying the days with the hottest 25 percent over those years as summer months, and those with the coldest temperatures as months winter.
The analysis showed that summer averaged from 78 days to 95 days from 1952 to 2011, while winter went from 76 days to 73 days. Spring and autumn also shook, before 9 days and 5 days respectively. While spring and summer have been a gradual start, autumn and winter have begun later.
The team then turned to future climate models to predict how these trends could continue into the turn of the century, discovering that the Northern Hemisphere could have a summer begins in early May and ends in mid-October before 2100.
That’s a potentially dangerous development for all sorts of reasons – it would mean more time with allergenic pollen in the air, for example, and more spread of disease-carrying tropical mosquitoes, to just name two results.
“Several studies have already shown that the changing seasons pose significant environmental and health risks,” Guan says.
According to data collected since 1952, the Mediterranean region and the Tibetan Plateau have seen the greatest change when it comes to seasonal tours, but it is unlikely to be possible for any part of the escape from the effects of climate change.
As temperatures continue to change, we are seeing global weather patterns change beyond their limits – and all climate change affects the oceans and land which is below.
If we are to be able to retreat from the brink of a planet warming up beyond our control, it is important that so much data is collected to inform the kind of difficult decisions that are being made. is required.
“This is a good starting point for understanding the impact of seasonal change,” said climate scientist Scott Sheridan, from Kent State University, who was not involved in the study.
The research was published in Geophysical Research Letters.