Ben Pawlowski
SKY-HIGH temperatures, long periods of drought and coastal cities swamped by rising sea levels.
That will be the future of Spain, at least according to new research from NASA which claims that some regions on the Iberian peninsula will become uninhabitable by 2050 if current climate change trends are not reversed.
The stark warning comes from a new report authored by Colin Raymond, a leading NASA scientist based in southern California.
As part of a wide-ranging study into extreme heat and weather patterns, Raymond and his team have identified three places in Spain that are most at risk of becoming unsuitable for human life in just two-and-a-half decades time.
Even now, many Spaniards are feeling the heat as long summers see temperatures hit ever-higher peaks and droughts threaten to suffocate the nation’s drier regions and guzzle up dwindling reservoir levels.
According to Raymond, these periods of intense heat will not just become more frequent but also more intense, with the possibility of unprecedented temperatures becoming the norm.
One of the key regions at risk is the Meseta Central, the greater interior plateau of central Spain that holds Madrid, the Spanish capital, at its centre.
Already many Madrileños are forced to evacuate the city in summer to escape the unbearable heat – Raymond warns that this could become a year-round phenomenon if current climate trends continue, with a lack of humidity and low water levels exacerbating the situation.
In addition, the Valencian Community will be another epicentre of intense heat and severe weather patterns that run the risk of rendering the region uninhabitable.
Elsewhere, the southern autonomous community of Andalucia, known for its sweltering summers, will continue to suffer.
Earlier this year, diminishing reservoir levels threatened to force draconian water cuts as the region suffered its worst drought in decades.
Those once-in-a-generation events could become the annual norm, Raymond warns, forcing residents to emigrate as water levels and temperatures become unsustainable.
Further research from NASA, the U.S. federal state agency, has also highlighted the coastal cities in Spain most at risk from rising sea levels as higher temperatures provoke the melting of the ice caps and glaciers.
Catalunya will be the most impacted region, with its capital, Barcelona, at risk of being overwhelmed and swamped.
Levels in the Mediterranean around Barcelona are set to increase by 13 centimetres by 2030, 43 centimetres by 2070, 75 centimetres by 2100 and 126 centimetres by 2150 if forecasts are correct.
Elsewhere, sea levels around Huelva will rise by 69 centimetres by 2100, 64 centimetres in Tarifa and 61 centimetres in Malaga.
On Spain’s northern coast, the waters around Bilbao will rise by 69 centimetres and 72 centimetres in neighbouring Santander.
