Shifting our Focus to Europe now, the
continent is emerging from its second
warmest winter on record . this according
to the European Union scientists
according to data published by the eu’s
Copernicus climate change service from
December to February. the average
temperature in Europe was 1.4 degrees
Celsius above the 1991 to 2020 average
for the burial winter season. ranking is
Europe’s joint’s second warmest winter
on record , with only the winter of 2019
and 2020 being even milder . the report
says that the month of February saw
above average temperatures over Eastern
Europe and parts of Northeastern Europe.
the high temperatures followed a severe
winter heat wave in late December and
early January.
the record high winter temperatures hit
countries from France and Hungary this
means that ski resorts had to be
shuttered because of a lack of snow.
moreover scientists say that Europe’s
Winters are becoming warmer as a result
of rising global temperatures , that are
caused due to human-caused climate
change.
while to some extent the milder weather
has been welcomed with European
countries having fear, that they might
run out of natural gas used to heat
homes this winter in light of Russia’s
switching off gas supplies to the
continent . however milder Winters pose
risk to the wildlife and agriculture
here. it can have an impact on Farming
and habitats of animals as temperatures
spikes can cause plants to start growing
prematurely or they can collect animals
out of hibernation early and that makes
them vulnerable to being killed off by
Cold snaps later in the season. according
to experts climate change meant plants
and animals were struggling . animals
struggle to move to New locations to
maintain their ideal temperature for
survival . the report also highlighted
other climate linked extremes including
a drop in Antarctic sea ice. in February
the sea ice reached its lowest levels in
Satellite data records began,
that was almost half a century ago . the
melting of sea ice can have larger
implications on the stability of Earth’s
white cover, the Antarctic eyes shells as
melting sea ice exposes the thicker ice
shelves to waves in warmer temperatures.
as well as on the issue of global sea
level rise in our next report we tell
you further why sea ice is important for
Earth take a look.
ice shelves are permanent floating
extensions of an ice sheet connected to
a land mass.
most are along the coast of Antarctica
but they can also be found in Greenland,
Canada and parts of Russia . they form
when ice from enormous ice sheets
approaches the sea as a glacier . if the
ocean is cold enough and Ice shells
pushed forwards by glaciers does not
melt . over time it can grow gaining ice
Mass sometimes it can shrink until
recently , there was a rough balance
between the amount ice shelves shed and
accumulated.
but now the ice is melting and melting
fast especially in the Antarctic.
scientists say warmer air and higher
ocean temperatures are behind the change.
warm air melts the surface of the Shelf
forming pools. the water trickles
downwards through small cracks making
them wider meanwhile warmer water
circulates under the floating shelf,
melting it from below expanding the
cracks further. finally an iceberg breaks
away from the ice shelf a process called
carving . scientists believe it’s vital
that ice shelves do not disintegrate
without an ice shelf to slow their speed
glaciers would accelerate and flow into
the ocean contributing to a dramatic sea
level rise.
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