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As in the rest of the world, Spain is also affected by global climate change. Every country and area has its own characteristics, but for Spain it mainly concerns temperature increases, longer and more frequent droughts, increasing heat waves... Below is an overview of the effects that climate change could have on Spain's climate over the next few years.
First of all, what is climate change?
To understand climate change, it is important to distinguish between ‘weather’ and ‘climate’ :
- Weather describes the weather at a given time, which varies over short periods of time;
- Climate describes the usual weather conditions in a particular place.
For example, climate change can be characterised by a climate event (increase in average temperature, increase in heavy rainfall or intense drought...) on a regular and significant basis, over a long period of time and in a particular region.
The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere due to human activities is indicated as the main cause of climate change. By increasing the ability of the atmosphere to retain heat, this phenomenon, also known as the ‘greenhouse effect’, leads to global warming.
The effects of climate change in Spain
Climate change is now a reality expressed all over the world, and Spain is no exception. The following has already been observed in the country:
- The lengthening of summers, estimated by AEMET (State Agency for Meteorology), by almost five weeks since the 1970s.
- The decrease in average river flows, in some cases by more than 20% in recent decades.
- The expansion of semi-arid climate*, with more than 30,000 km2 of new semi-arid areas in just a few decades.
*) A semi-arid climate is a type of climate in which there is just not too little rainfall to support an entire desert, but also not enough to support extensive forest areas. It is a transitional type between desert climate and a more humid (terrestrial) climate. - The increase in heat waves, increasingly frequent, longer and more intense.
Source: MITECO (the ministry responsible for environment and climate change policies).
ond that, we are also noticing: rising sea levels, floods, desertification, desiccation and die-off of native vegetation, changes in ecosystems, proliferation of invasive insect species such as the Asian tiger mosquito... All these developments affect the economy and increase risks to human health.
What is expected from 2050 onwards?
In the second half of the century, it is highly likely that the climatic phenomena we already observe today will increase in intensity and frequency and spread geographically throughout Spain: increases in both maximum and minimum temperatures, a moderate decrease in precipitation and cloud cover, longer and more frequent droughts, longer, more frequent and more intense heat waves resulting in localised severe weather...
According to information from El Tiempo, these effects can already be indicated in precise locations across the country:
- Andalusia: frequency and intensity of heat waves will increase by 2050.
- Balearic Islands: emergence of DANA's * may become more frequent.
*) A DANA is an atmospheric phenomenon -also known as a ‘gota fría’- that consists of the formation of closed, defined and persistent depressions of cold air, separated or disconnected from the source area from which they originate. It is a potentially dangerous atmospheric phenomenon which can manifest itself mainly in summer and autumn and it manifests itself through heavy rainfall and sometimes even hail, strong gusts of wind, violent thunderstorms sometimes resulting in mudslides and floods. - Barcelona: maximum summer temperatures could exceed 35 degrees for more than 16 days in 2070.
- Canary Islands: the entry of ‘calima’ or brown sand from the Sahara via atmospheric air currents could become more frequent.
- Madrid: maximum summer temperatures could exceed 35 degrees for more than 79 days in 2080.
- Murcia: 85% of the region could potentially fall below 10 mm of total annual irrigation, which could lead to a reduction of up to 40% of current indigenous water supplies/sources by 2050.
- Basque Country: more than 200 hectares of the Vizcaya coast will be at risk of flooding by 2050.
Climate change measures in Spain
At the Conference of the Parties (COP climate agreement in Paris) in December 2015, 195 countries adopted various targets to reduce greenhouse gases and mitigate the effects of global warming and adapt. The aim of the Paris agreement is to prevent global warming of more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels and continue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
In this context, residents of Spain must adapt their activities and lifestyles to limit their impact on the climate, while at the same time reducing their ‘carbon footprint’.
Some climate change impacts can be reduced with relatively simple measures such as:
- Opting for sustainable (hybrid and electric) means of transport;
- Following a healthier and more varied diet (less environmental impact);
- Choosing a ‘green’ electricity supplier;
- Optimise energy consumption, for example by installing solar panels, insulating your home and/or installing a heat pump.
Spain's Costa Blanca has a gifted microclimate
According to the World Health Organisation, this area has the healthiest climate in Europe and is blessed with a special microclimate. After all, an average temperature of 17 degrees in January is very pleasant. In winter, temperatures during the day can reach 20 - 24 degrees or warmer. The fact that the triangular headland between the cities of Valencia and Alicante protrudes into the sea plays an important role in this.
- In winter, the Mediterranean Sea is still warmer than the air temperature for a relatively long time. So then a kind of warm-water area surrounds the headland, serving as a ‘juggernaut’. In summer, the reverse is true and the sea actually provides the necessary cooling.
- However, this is not the only factor involved in this microclimate. Behind the Costa Blanca are a number of extensive low mountain ranges. However, these low mountains are high enough to prevent the cold reaching the Costa Blanca from inland.
- A third factor is that off the coast there is a current that often causes the clouds to give way.
The ‘biological’ winter here lasts only about a good three months and summers, unlike southern Spain and central Spain, are also milder. The thermometer regularly goes towards 45+ degrees in Murcia, Andalucia and Castilla la Mancha, for instance. On the Costa Blanca, it is quite unusual for it to reach 40 degrees, which is a very pleasant difference. In summers, temperatures here range between 30 and 35 degrees. And given that it is a coastal area, there is also usually a nice cooling sea breeze.
However, exceptions are also the case here, as in the rest of the world. In 2007 - precisely because of its geographical location - a ‘DANA’ depression kept spinning for more than 24 hours over the ‘tip’ of the Costa Blanca with dramatic consequences (the picture above speaks for itself).
But again, due to the favourable location of the Costa Blanca, the future climate changesdescribed above are expected to remain limited in this coastal region
