[ad_1]
Portuguese climatologist Eduardo Brito de Azevedo disagrees that the Azores are experiencing an unprecedented “extreme drought” because he believes that hydrological balance is maintained thanks to winter precipitation.
“In my opinion, the statement that we are experiencing unprecedented drought conditions is not entirely correct. Although there was first a very significant rainfall anomaly in August, it did not happen in a negative sense, from a hydrological point of view,” Brito de Azevedo told Lusa, adding that this was by no means the worst year for water supplies.
Temperatures in the Azores, especially in August, are above normal for summer, with maximums of 29 to 30 degrees Celsius, and precipitation is low.
The retired expert and professor, project manager for the Eastern North Atlantic (ENA), the ARM facility on Graciosa Island, the US Department of Energy and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, stressed that “the fact is that for quite a long time, the economic situation has been good. The weather does not mean that now is a period of extreme drought”.
Climatologists say that on most islands of the Azores, there is no problem with water supply during the winter and it is sufficient to meet people’s needs.
“From an agronomic point of view, the amount of precipitation in August is actually a negative signal, which has an impact on agriculture, especially livestock feed,” he said.
According to environmental experts, this situation is due to the “persistence of the Azores anticyclone located in the Atlantic Ocean,” which “modulates the weather.”
Brito de Azevedo said that “the temperature anomaly is between 1.5 and 2.5 degrees” and “especially due to another anomaly, that of surface sea temperatures, which, especially in late July and early August, is significant and should be a concern for all the sectors that depend on the economy.”
“The sea surface temperature anomalies actually send a more worrying signal. The central Atlantic has already been warming. In 2003, sea surface temperatures reached an all-time high, and this year, this warming phenomenon has continued, especially in the first few months of this year,” the expert explained.
Brito de Azevedo noted that “strangely enough, from July onwards, although there is still a small area of warm water in this area of the Azores in the central Atlantic, there is a certain cooling trend, which also increases the temperatures”.
Experts point out that this situation brings “some unpredictability in the future, especially since the ocean cannot regulate air temperature like thermoregulation, warming may bring significant climate change”, affecting marine ecosystems and the composition of marine fauna and flora.
“Whether this situation can be maintained is a question that climatology cannot yet answer,” the scientist said, stressing that thermal anomalies “affect the generation and trajectory of tropical storms.”
Brito de Azevedo said that at the beginning of August, everything indicated that “it would be a very complicated period in terms of tropical storms, but from mid-August, the sea temperatures in the equatorial region dropped and hurricanes began to form there”.
Regarding climate change, the expert said that “the changes are already being felt” and that “they are more due to climatic irregularities” and that “the seasonality that the Azores were used to has disappeared, both in winter and in summer”.
[ad_2]
Source link
