Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said climate change is driving Europe’s heat in a new post on X after Sentinel-3 captured surface temperatures as high as 131 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of Europe and northern Africa on June 23. The World Health Organization says more than 1,300 deaths may be linked to the heat wave.
The WHO chief wrote that “Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the global average.” That warning landed as France recorded its hottest June day ever and the satellite image put the heat in sharp relief across central Spain, western France and northern Africa.
Sentinel-3 June 23 data
Sentinel-3 measured surface temperatures of 118 degrees Fahrenheit in Madrid and 111 degrees Fahrenheit in Rome, using its Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer to send real-time readings over land and water. The European Space Agency image shows hotter temperatures in red and violet, turning the heat wave into a map instead of a headline.
The satellite data gives researchers a way to track where the heat concentrated and how it spread across Europe. That matters because the same system is being used to study both the causes and the effects of the atmospheric phenomena behind the temperatures.
WHO death estimate
WHO authorities estimate that over 1,300 deaths may be linked to the heat wave that swept across Europe earlier this month. The figure sits alongside the record temperatures, tying the event to a public-health toll that was measured after the temperature spike, not during it.
Temperatures this high were unprecedented across much of Europe, but the satellite record also helps researchers compare surface heat across land regions in one pass. For readers, the sharpest remaining question is how many deaths will ultimately be linked to the heat wave across Europe.
