A study by the UPC’s CPSV suggests that Spain’s climate will become steppe like by 2050
Spain’s climate could shift from a Mediterranean to a steppe-like climate. If the global warming trend experienced in recent years (1973-2022) continues, by 2050 rainfall is predicted to decrease by 14% to 20%, compared to current levels. This is one of the conclusions of a study presented by a team from the Centre for Land Valuation Policy (CPSV) of the UPC at the 2024 EMS Annual Meeting held in Barcelona.
Sep 08, 2024
The study, titled Spain: towards a drier and warmer climate, was presented at the 2024 European Meteorological Society Annual Meeting in Barcelona by UPC professors Josep Roca Cladera and Blanca Arellano, and doctoral candidate Zheng Qianhui, from the CPSV, a research centre that is part of the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB). The study analyses the evolution of temperatures and rainfall throughout Spain from 1971 to 2022 and projects the climate of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands up to 2050.
The presentation exposed the issues surrounding this structural climate change and highlighted the relationship between the global warming process—especially significant in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, compared to the Mediterranean region—and the parallel evolution towards a drier climate.
According to the study’s authors, this warming is significantly affecting rainfall patterns. By 2050, reduced rainfall will result in a marked climate shift, from a typical Mediterranean climate to a drier, hotter steppe-like or even desert-like climate. In the specific case of Barcelona, the transition will be from a climate with mild, dry winters and hot summers to a steppe-like and semi-arid climate.
The presentation also reported extreme weather events (heat waves, droughts and torrential rainfall) from the 1971-2022 period across the Iberian Peninsula.
