New reports reveal that most of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf may be uninhabitable by the end of the century. The region, which gave birth to civilization six millenia ago is the first to encounter temperatures that could rise to the point of being too hot for human survival.
A study released by Nature Climate Change suggests that most of the Middle East and its great cities, such as Dubai, Abu-Dhabi and Dubai’s holy city of Mecca could experience summer days that will just be too hot for human habitability, making it impossible for people to be outdoors for more than a few hours. The study predicts that the Persian Gulf may see these summers by the end of the century thanks to anthropogenic global warming.
Global Warming Could Bring Lethal Temperatures
From Dubai to Iran’s Bandar Abbas and all cities in between, temperatures could rise to lethal levels if climate change progresses as it has progressed thus far. Some climate experts were surprised by the findings because of the small deadline, the impact and urgency of climate change seems to be growing more daunting as time goes by.
Christoph Schaer, physicist and climate modeler at the Swiss Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, commented that threats to human health may be much more severe than previously thought, judged by the conclusions drawn by the study, and they may occur in the current century.
By using high-resolution climate models of the Persian Gulf, the study examined different scenarios for climate change over the coming decades. They focused on a key heat measurement known as the ‘wet-bulb temperature’ that includes humidity and evaporation rates averaged over several hours. The survivability limit for healthy people would be a wet-bulb temperature of 35C or 95F, and their studies concluded that by the year 2100, the Persian Gulf will be much beyond these temperatures.
Another Sign to Heed Climate Change
This new data urges people to take climate change as the most pivotal issue of our time. Once again the Earth itself seems to be giving warnings of changes that may not be pleasing to any of us, and a reminder that just as swiftly we came about, grew and developed, we can disappear. It’s ironic that where the human race began may be where it starts to end, and if global warming continues to be only a mild cause for concern, the whole planet could become a desert.
