Climate change increases the average temperatures of the planet, increases the frequency and intensity of droughts and therefore, summers are more unbearable.
A group of geographers from the University of Zaragoza has come to the conclusion that 6 of the 16 most extremely dry summers recorded in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula have occurred in the last ten years. What happens if this continues?
Extremely dry summers
As you have probably already experienced, summers in Spain are getting drier and warmer. This causes the ecosystems to be seriously affected and the water resources of the areas as well. The lack of rainfall alters the balance of ecosystems that depend entirely on water as the basic pillar of the functioning of life.
The University of Zaragoza has carried out a study in which, through the radial growth of the oldest trees in Spain, it has tried to reconstruct the climate of the past. The oldest trees investigated identify the summers of the years 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012 and 2013 among the hottest recorded in the referred time period.
More drought
The drought in Spain is not a new phenomenon. Our climate does not have very abundant rainfall, however, the amount of water that falls per year is usually constant. Because of climate change, drought is an increasingly recurrent phenomenon in Mediterranean environments, and although human activity and natural systems themselves have adapted to this situation, an increase in their frequency, magnitude and intensity due to climate change could significantly affect the sustainability of the whole.
Therefore, it is considered that the information obtained from this investigation it is crucial to be able to know the effects of the drought in the future where the main stage of Mediterranean forests are subject to climate change.