A planetary heatwave!

The Earth is getting warmer with already visible consequences, such as the melting of the Arctic ice pack, the retreat of glaciers and a rise in sea levels.

+0.85°C: this was the increase in average temperature over the surface of the Earth (continents and oceans) between 1880 and 2014. The climate is warming generally, but not uniformly: the northern hemisphere is affected more and warming is greatest in high latitudes (the Arctic) and higher on the continents than in the oceans. This is already having different effects on the environment. The most striking of them is the melting of the Arctic ice pack in summer, reducing both its surface and thickness. Generalised shrinkage of glaciers in tropical, temperate and polar regions can also be observed. Measurements provided by tide gauges and satellites show a rise in sea levels of 3 millimetres a year over the last twenty years. As it warms, the water in the oceans expands. This, together with the melting of continental ice (mountain glaciers and the ice sheets of Greenland and the Antarctic), is causing rises in sea level. Other signs of global warming include the migration of certain species such as pine processionary caterpillars, which are heading up towards the north of France, or greylag geese, which are increasingly wintering in France rather than migrating to Spain or Africa. Some fruit trees are blossoming earlier. Finally, in many regions of the world, the average number of days of frost each year has fallen and the number of hot days (a temperature higher than 25°C) has increased since 1950 (by more than 50% in Paris).