Heatwave warning as rise in UK figures is revealed
SIR DAVID Attenborough has claimed the world has entered a dramatic phase dominated by human activity as new evidence emerged of the devastating impact of climate change.
As he accepted a major award yesterday from the World Economic Forum recognising his conservation efforts, the renowned naturalist said the world had now entered “the age of humans”, adding: “What we do in the next few years will profoundly affect the next few thousand years.”
His warning over the impact of human activity on delicate eco-systems came as a new study revealed heatwaves in the UK are up to three times more frequent today than they were in 1878.
The duration of heatwaves has also risen two to three-fold since the end of the 19th century, according to the study by the University of Warwick.
Scientists based the findings on data from the Central England Temperature (CET) record, the most extensive library of daily temperature measurements in the world.
By applying statistical techniques, the researchers explored the changing relationship between frequency, duration and intensity of heatwaves. The team focused on days when temperatures rose above 28C, the definition of overheating under current UK building regulations. Six day-
long heatwaves occurring every five years typically see temperatures higher than this threshold, the study found.
It highlighted a two to threefold reduction in the “average return period”, the average time separating two successive heatwaves, since 1878.
The duration of heatwaves with an average five-year return period had as much as tripled over the same time span.
Lead scientist Professor Sandra Chapman, from the University of Warwick, said: “We have seen intense heatwaves in the UK several times before, but at the same time we see heatwaves becoming more intense and severe on average.”
And in a separate research paper which is published today, scientists have warned that future generations face an “environmental time bomb” caused by the effects of climate change on groundwater. In many parts of the world it could take more than 100 years for the full impact of changes occurring today to be felt by groundwater systems, the new study by the University of Cardiff ’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences has revealed.
This has major implications for the future availability of fresh water for drinking, irrigation and industry, the researchers involved in the study have claimed.
Lead scientist Dr Mark Cuthbert said: “This could be described as an environmental time bomb because any climate change impacts on recharge occurring now, will only fully impact the baseflow to rivers and wetlands a long time later.”
Groundwater is water trapped underground in cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock, and it is the largest source of usable freshwater in the world and relied upon by more than two billion people.