On June 28, a heat record was broken. In Gallargues-le-Montreux, in the Gard, a temperature of 45.9 ° C was recorded. This is the highest temperature ever recorded in metropolitan France, and the highest temperature ever recorded for the month of June in Europe.
Only a few weeks after this exceptionally intense climactic episode, the protocol used by a team of international researchers suggests that Man had his role to play in this event. The team seeks to show, by comparing recent and old figures, the impact of global warming in a specific event.
Canicular episodes 10 times more frequent
The study draws conclusions, some of which are particularly disturbing. " Such an event should only happen once every 30 years on average ." The study identifies data going back to the late XIX th century and claims as well as a heatwave intensity that has five to 100 times more likely to happen now that a century ago. " These heat waves are deadly, although it's not quite visible yet. The risk is accentuated by global warming, but also by other factors: an aging population, urbanization, changing social structures or the level of readiness ".
This study also mentions the impact of the heatwave on the national organization: " In France, heatwaves usually take place in the middle of the summer, when they have less impact on school days and activities. professional. , the government has decided to postpone a national examination, resulting in organizational challenges ".
Human activity "actively participates"
One of the conclusions of the study is that humans have been actively involved in increasing the frequency of such events. The study itself is quite certain: although its reliability has not yet been proven by industry experts, the protocol it has used has been for a long time. The analysis is based on previous surveys, in Toulouse first, and in the whole of metropolitan France. It is then necessary to establish, for both, the evolution of the frequency of the heat waves. " This gives us a good description of three-day heat waves in France, with big waves during the 1950s, less during the 1970s, and more and more during the following decades ."
the study highlights a cooling around the 1980s, due, at the time, to air pollution by aerosols. Very present in Western Europe, they have for a while reducing the impact of greenhouse gases.
The observations continue: " It has been shown several times that summer temperatures rise because of climate change. We know that this change plays a role. [...] In this analysis, we realize how much the magnitude and frequency have evolved locally, in a country and in a city for a particular episode. "
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