Never before so much sunshine in Dutch summer
AP
NOS News•
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Helen Ekker
editor Climate and Energy
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Helen Ekker
editor Climate and Energy
There is a record amount of solar radiation this summer. Since the start of the measurements, the Netherlands has never seen so much energy from the sun. According to the KNMI, the old record from 1976 has therefore been broken. Summer will officially end next week, so for the whole summer there will be a few more days of sunshine.
The KNMI has been signaling a trend towards more sun in the Netherlands for some time. For the 1990s, the amount of sunshine in the summer has absorbed about ten percent. In the spring it is even 15 percent.
Peter Siegmund of the KNMI. This is in addition to climate change resulting from greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
Extreme drought
The sunny weather is the cause of the extreme drought this year, because more evaporation is possible. NOS weather presenter Gerrit Hiemstra also explains that solar radiation is related to heat, drought and water levels this summer.
“I suspect these are examples of the type that we may go more often in the Netherlands in the future, and also in large parts of Europe. It is a blueprint of what we can expect more often.”
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According to the KNMI, there are reasons for the increase in solar radiation. A small part is caused by Western Europe tackling air pollution in previous years, allowing the sun to better reach the Earth’s surface.
Moreover, there is less correlation with the more frequent occurrence of high pressure areas in the Netherlands.
But it’s not clear why there are more high-pressure areas, Siegmund says. “Our climate models do not show this. It could therefore be natural variations. If this is the case, it is also possible that the trend towards more sunshine will reverse. Another possibility is that the models are not correct on this point.”
Heat waves in the Netherlands also do not fit well in the climate models, as it turned out earlier. It is clear, however, that the quick explanation of southern Europe plays an important role: if there is a southerly wind, the warmer air comes to the Netherlands.
According to Siegmund, it has been known for some time that Europe is warming twice as fast as the global term. “In addition, the warm days are also twice as fast relations,” he says. “That together means four times faster than the world average words.”
It’s something many people realize, according to Siegmund. “The Climate Agreement is about a world of 1.5 or 2 degrees. But that is a product. The extremes go much faster.”
Europe fastest continent
Of all continents, Europe is warming up the fastest. This is mainly because a fairly large part of the continent is located north on Earth, and borders the Arctic. It is known that the speed is much faster than in the rest of the world.
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NOS
Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme, also provides other causes for Europe’s rapid adoption, such as changes in air circulation.
Returning to the climate system also plays a role, such as the effect of less moisture in the soil when the temperature increases in summer.
Copernicus, it is not possible to summarize all the causes, “because in part they may not be based on only applying to a part of the region of only changing for a specific season”.