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The coastal north of the United States–The east is one of the fastest warming areas in the northern hemisphere, having warmed rapidly by 2 ° C (3.6 ° F) already over the past century, in part because of the temperature. elevated from the nearby Atlantic Ocean, new research shows.
The coastline that stretches from Maine to Delaware is home to urban areas such as New York and Boston and annually draws millions of tourists to beaches and other attractions. But the region is changing rapidly due to the climate crisis, having warmed by 2 ° C on average since the turn of the 20th century, largely thanks to much hotter summers.
This is one of the fastest temperature increases in the northern hemisphere, according to the researchers, and double the level of heating that has occurred further inland in the same region.
Governments around the world have agreed to limit the global rise in global temperature to “well below” 2 ° C to avoid heatwaves, floods and other catastrophic impacts. The northeastern United States has now itself, in isolation, already crossed that threshold.
“It’s really obvious, it’s a big jump in temperature,” said Ambarish Karmalkar, climatologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and lead author of the article, published in Nature Climate Change. “It’s an exceptional level of warming and what amazes me is that it’s so different within a small region. The interior of the northeastern United States only warmed by 1C, while these popular coastal areas warmed by 2C. It’s a big difference.
Karmalkar and his colleague Radley Horton sought to establish the reasons for this rapid rise in temperature and found a link between the increasing heat of the North Atlantic Ocean and that of neighboring lands.
A large system of ocean currents, known as the Atlantic Meridional Turning Circulation (or Amoc), acts as a kind of conveyor belt for the ocean, bringing warm, salty water from the tropics north to Greenland, where it cools and sinks.
Recent studies indicate that this watery conveyor slows down as the climate warms, meaning warmer water is accumulating along the eastern seaboard of the United States, in places such as the Gulf of Maine. and the Mid-Atlantic Bight. This warming, which is disrupting traditional fisheries as marine ecosystems transform, has helped increase temperatures along the coast using wind patterns, the researchers say.
“Sea surface temperatures have risen dramatically, much faster than the global average, and more heat is being released there from the slowing conveyor belt,” Karmalkar said. “You also get these abnormal winds, and these two factors together are causing the warming trends.”
Cities in the northeastern United States have mainly focused on the dangers of flooding caused by the climate crisis – record rainfall caused severe flash flooding that killed dozens of people in New York City earlier this month – but Karmalkar said authorities should increasingly focus as the heat rises if current trends continue.
“The exceptional warming we have observed can have serious consequences for heat stress and human health,” he said. “A lot of people vacation on this coast, but warming can change the way people use space. This will become an important public health problem to deal with. “
Bob Kopp, a climatologist at Rutgers University who was not involved in the research, said the study “does identify” possible causes of the warming in the northeastern United States. Kopp added that adaptations to this heat should take place.
“Of course, there are huge inequalities in the United States, and in the region, the harms of extreme heat will tend to be felt more severely by low-income people,” he said. “It is also a densely urbanized area, with a significant urban heat island effect. “
Scientists have warned countries are still not cutting global warming emissions fast enough to avoid catastrophic consequences, with places ranging from the western United States to Germany to China already experiencing severe impacts fueled by the climate crisis. “These changes will only get worse if humans continue to emit carbon dioxide,” said Natalie Mahowald, climatologist at Cornell University.
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