»Europa hat sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten schneller erwärmt als jeder andere Kontinent«

Globally, the last eight years have been the warmest on record, and 2022 was the fifth
warmest year on record. Several regions of the globe saw record-breaking temperatures. In Europe, summer was the warmest on record, at 1.4°C above average, and 0.3–0.4°C above the previous warmest summer, in 2021. Most of western Europe saw heatwave conditions and temperatures in the United Kingdom reached above 40°C for the first time. The average sea surface temperature across Europe’s seas was the warmest on record.

The higher-than-average temperatures and a persistent lack of precipitation triggered a significant drought which, at its peak, affected most of Europe. There was also record loss of ice from glaciers in the Alps, equivalent to 5 km3 of ice, or an average depth across the glaciers of more than 3.5 m of ice. The high temperatures and drought also facilitated the spread and intensification of large fires, resulting in the year as a whole seeing the second highest burnt area on record across the EU countries.

Both polar regions also experienced unusually warm conditions in 2022. Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest minimum extent on record in February. Later in the year, the Greenland ice sheet saw record melt, with at least 23% of its area impacted during one of three heatwaves in September.

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