A new study by Washington and Harvard University shows the range of heat effects around the world by the end of this century, and scientists have explained how the heat will depend on future greenhouse gas emissions.
"The heat of recent years will become much more frequent in places such as North America and Europe," explains Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, the lead author of the study. "For many places close to the equator by 2100, it will be difficult to work in the open air for more than six months, even if humanity begins to reduce emissions actively."
In the study, scientists looked at the combination of temperature and humidity of air, the heat index, which helps to measure the effects of environmental heat on humans. According to the National Meteorological Service of the United States of America, the temperature index is 39.4 °C and the extreme heat index is 51 °C.
Initially, these standards have been created for people who work in places like boiler rooms. "No one could have expected them to appear in the open air, in the environment, but we see them now," stresses Vargas Zeppetello.
The study showed that even if countries were able to achieve the Paris goal, by 2,100 dangerous heat levels would be three to ten times more frequent in the US, Western Europe, China, and Japan than they are now, and in the tropics the number of hot days will double and be observed for six months.
Let us recall that the goal of the Paris Agreement is to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and to limit the rise in global temperatures in this century to 2 °C.