Certain environmental phenomena, such as flowers and plants blooming early and migratory birds traveling prematurely, are more than nature working ahead of schedule.
New research postulates that changing seasons ahead of time may be the result of climate change and warming global average temperatures, resulting in a prolonged summer. These balance changes can have dangerous implications for agriculture and natural environments, as well as for human health.
Published in the Journal of Geophysical Research and Letters, the study analyzes the climate and seasonal data from 1952 to 2011 in the northern hemisphere. The collection of temperature data over the years has helped scientists track when each of the four seasons began, on average.
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The results indicate that the average duration of summer increased from an average of 78 days to 95, while spring, winter and autumn had decreases in duration ranging from three to nine days.
Extrapolating this data, the scientists found that if this trend continues at the current rate, the summer could last almost six months until 2100.
“This is the biological clock for all living things,” the study’s lead author, Yuping Guan, a physical oceanographer at the State Academy of Tropical Oceanography at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told NBC. “People argue about raising the temperature by 2 or 3 degrees, but global warming changing seasons is something that everyone can understand.”
Some of the consequences of such a seasonal change can harm humans. Guan and his team note that people may be exposed to large volumes of pollen for longer periods and suffer from an increase in populations of mosquitoes gravitating towards the warmer northern environments.
This can introduce certain viruses, such as malaria, into new environments.
Flora and fauna may also find it difficult to adapt to a new climate, damaging existing ecosystems and interrupting the demand for energy as the hot climate gets warmer and lasts for longer periods.
Scientists conclude by saying that this pattern will continue if emissions are not reduced and the Earth continues to absorb more heat than it reflects back into space.
“In the business-as-usual scenario, spring and summer will start about a month before 2011 at the end of the century, autumn and winter will start about half a month later, which results in almost half a year of summer and less 2 months of winter in 2100 ”, write the authors. “As the duration of the four seasons changes, which can trigger a chain of reactions, the formulation of policies for agricultural management, health and disaster prevention requires adjustments.”
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