Fethiye Times News – Week Ending 26 January 2019
Here at Fethiye Times, we decided to have a closer look at the changes in the weather.
Is The Climate Changing?
Our climate is changing. Most visibly, the air is getting warmer and global surface temperature has increased nearly 1℃ since the beginning of the twentieth century.
As global temperatures increase, several changes occur:
- Sea and land ice melt, and sea levels rise
- Snow cover shrinks, and snow melts earlier
- The temperature of the oceans increase
- Droughts and storms become stronger
- The warm season extends, more heat waves and wildfires occur
- Plants and animals migrate or may become extinct
These changes have already affected human life directly by changing the environment they are exposed to.
The greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a warming of Earth’s surface and the air above it. It is caused by gases in the air that trap energy from the Sun. These heat-trapping gases are called greenhouse gases. The most common greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane.
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Ironically, the effects are forecast to affect Turkey more severely than many other countries.
Climate change in Turkey
In Turkey we can expect to see, and in fact are already seeing, more extreme weather.
Increasing temperatures
The summers are heating up faster than the other seasons. In 2017, Turkey sweltered through a heatwave from North Africa with temperatures of 44.8°C (with a RealFeel* temperature of 49°C due to humidity) recorded in Antalya.
*The AccuWeather RealFeel® temperature uses multiple factors including the temperature, humidity, cloud cover, sun intensity, and wind to explain how hot it feels outside. In comparison, the heat index only factors in the temperature and humidity.
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This may be good news for sun-worshipping holidaymakers but it isn’t so good for agricultural areas, particularly rain fed crops.
Wildfires
The increase in temperatures have led to hot, dry conditions that cause an increase in wildfires, destroying the ecosystem and habitats of many species of wildlife.
“6,200 hectares of forest land have been burned in 1,132 fires in 2017 alone,” said Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs Veysel Eroğlu as he was visiting the forest lands that were turned into ashes in different fires in the western province of İzmir.
In July 2018, a villager burnt to death and dozens were left homeless as a major forest fire raged in the province of Antalya
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Mustafa Kurtulmuslu, deputy general manager of Turkey’s forestry directorate, told Anatolian Agency.
“I have dealt my whole life with fires but I have never seen a sight like this. I can say that we are experiencing a catastrophe”
Thunder and lightning
Along with climate change, studies tie the increase in the number of electromagnetic fields to the rising rate of thunder and lightning around the world,
A total of nine people were reported to have been killed in Turkey due to lightning strikes in one month up to 17 May 2018. Some 26 people were injured and more than 120 animals were also killed by lightning strikes, according to reports from European Lightning Strikes Monitoring System.
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On 24 July 2018, the Istanbul region hit was by 43,388 lightning strikes in 24 hours according to the Turkish State Meteorological Service.
Chamber of Meteorological Engineers Vice President Ahmet Köse told Anadolu Agency, “The frequency of floods, storms, whirlwinds and droughts has been increasing due to globalwarming and climate change. The severity and frequency of these kinds of matters have been increasing every year.”
Flooding
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Medicanes
In September 2018, Greece and Turkey were struck by a “medicane”, a combination of Mediterranean and hurricane specific to the Mediterranean region.
A medicane is more of a tropical storm-like cyclone. They form when a non-tropical storm threat feeds off the warm waters of the Mediterranean, then the storm will begin to develop tropical-storm characteristics and strengthens.
Climate change and possible future changes of medicanes are a matter of concern due to their large damage potential.
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Turkey battles climate change: Nationwide efforts give hope for the future
Preventing climate change is crucial for Turkey because its region has experienced significantly more drastic rising temperatures when compared to the global scale. Read more…
In our next article we’ll be looking at the things we can do as individuals to combat climate change.
Well, there are 7.7 billion of us on the planet and the current population of Turkey is 82,519,964 …
Sources: Climate Change in Turkey/Accuweather/Hürriyet Daily News/Carbon Brief/Worldometers/Daily Sabah
Featured image courtesy of islami.co
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