Credit: CC0 Public Domain
A recent study revealed that high temperatures, exacerbated by human-induced carbon emissions, led to almost 50,000 deaths in Europe last year. The research, conducted by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, attributed 47,690 fatalities to heat during the warmest year globally and the second-warmest in Europe’s history.
Over the past decade, only 2022 saw more heat-related deaths, surpassing 60,000 casualties. The study, published in Nature Medicine, analyzed temperature and mortality data from 35 European countries.
The findings emphasized that older individuals faced the highest risk, particularly in southern European nations most impacted by the heatwaves. More than half of the deaths occurred during two intense heatwaves in mid-July and August, coinciding with deadly wildfires in Greece. On July 18, temperatures soared to 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in Sicily.
2024-08-13 01:15:02
Original article available at phys.org