Half a degree rise in global warming will triple area of Earth too hot for humans, scientists warnby King's College LondonAn international group...
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network
by King's College London
An international group of scientists, led by King's College London, has revealed how continued global warming will lead to more parts of the planet becoming too hot for the human body over the coming decades.
The paper, published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, finds that the amount of landmass on our planet that would be too hot for even healthy young humans (18 to 60-year-olds) to keep a safe core body temperature will approximately triple (to 6%)—an area almost the size of the US—if global warming reaches 2°C above the preindustrial average.
Under these conditions, they also warn that the area of land where the over 60s will be at risk will increase to about 35%.
Last year was the first calendar year with a global mean temperature of more than 1.5°C above the preindustrial average, and at current rates of warming, 2°C could be reached by mid to late century.
Dr. Tom Matthews, lead author and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Geography at King's College London said, "Our findings show the potentially deadly consequences if global warming reaches 2°C. Unsurvivable heat thresholds, which so far have only been exceeded briefly for older adults in the hottest regions on Earth, are likely to emerge even for younger adults.
"In such conditions, prolonged outdoor exposure—even for those in the shade, subject to a strong breeze, and well hydrated—would be expected to cause lethal heatstroke. It represents a step-change in heat-mortality risk ".
For their assessment, the team drew together scientific findings to link physical climate science with heat mortality risk, including crossing "uncompensable" and "unsurvivable" thresholds. Scientists distinguish between uncompensable thresholds, beyond which human core body temperature rises uncontrollably, and unsurvivable thresholds, where the body's core temperature increases to 42°C within six hours.
SOURCE:https://phys.org/news/2025-02-degree-global-triple-area-earth.html?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic/environment
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