Parts of Europe are witnessing up to 40 additional days with strong heat stress compared with the 1970s, according to a major new study. The world is grappling with a “sharp rise” in dangerous heat stress, as our reliance on fossil fuels continues to bake the planet.
According to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), temperatures in Europe have increased by an estimated 2.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels despite efforts to stop global warming, making it the fastest-warming continent on Earth. But researchers have now gone beyond analysing just the outside air temperature and have started to study ‘feels-like temperatures’ to understand more of the impact on people.
‘Feels like’ temperatures measure how hot or cold the weather feels to bare human skin. Rather than just using the standard air temperature, which you often see on forecasts, ‘feels like’ temperatures adjust for environmental factors like wind speed, humidity, as well as experts’ understanding of how heat is lost from the human body.
A new study, published in the science journal Nature, warns that extreme ‘feels-like’ temperatures, heat stress days and tropical nights – where the temperature doesn’t drop below 20°C during a 24-hour period – have all become “dramatically more frequent”. Even regions previously untouched by heat stress are now feeling it too.
Heat stress refers to the build-up of body heat generated either internally by muscle use or externally by the environment. This occurs when the heat the body absorbs from the environment exceeds the body’s ability to dissipate it. “Heat stress generally results from a combination of factors, such as high ambient temperatures, humidity, physical activity and inadequate fluid intake,” says C3S. “Various factors influence the human body’s ability to keep its core temperature within certain boundaries.”
The heat produced by the human body can be balanced with heat exchanged with the surrounding environment through our thermoregulatory system (which is why we sweat when we’re hot). Behavioural factors can also play a part, such as staying hydrated, wearing baggy clothing, and not exercising during the hottest part of the day.
When our bodies are unable to balance this heat, we can experience a slew of symptoms such as elevated core body temperature, increased heart rate, rapid breathing, excessive sweating, nausea, and dizziness. In severe cases, heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion or heat stroke can be deadly.
Source: Euronews
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