How Europe’s record breaking heatwave could affect the world
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A massive heatwave that originated in Sahara has been sweeping over Europe with countries like UK, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Denmark registering record breaking temperature highs of 38 degrees Celsius and above.
Earlier in July, scientists warned that the world should expect more scorching heat waves due to climate change and that current temperature highs are in line with predictions made over a decade ago.
Scientists blame the climate change on the planet for the rising temperatures that might soon spread all over the world.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, the high temperatures pose a major threat to people's health, agriculture and the environment, but initial reports indicated that heat-health early warnings successfully limited the death toll.
Perhaps the most worrying incident is the fact that the heatwave has reached Greenland, which holds the world’s second largest ice-sheet which rises 3,000 meters above sea level.
According to scientists, the melted ice from Greenland’s ice sheet could see water levels in the planet’s seas rise by about one millimeter and around two millimeters in the tropical regions.
The rise of water levels in the seas could in turn cause bigger and stronger storms and immense flooding in countries that are prone to such natural occurrences like Indonesia and the Caribbean Islands.
Researchers from the University of Oxford said that the world is very likely to see more extreme heatwaves in the future due to climate change.
