World's Tallest Sandcastle Built in Denmark

The world's tallest sand sculpture standing 21.16 meters high is seen in Blokhus, Denmark July 7, 2021. Claus Bjoern Larsen/Ritzau Scanpix via REUTERS
The world's tallest sand sculpture standing 21.16 meters high is seen in Blokhus, Denmark July 7, 2021. Claus Bjoern Larsen/Ritzau Scanpix via REUTERS
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World's Tallest Sandcastle Built in Denmark

The world's tallest sand sculpture standing 21.16 meters high is seen in Blokhus, Denmark July 7, 2021. Claus Bjoern Larsen/Ritzau Scanpix via REUTERS
The world's tallest sand sculpture standing 21.16 meters high is seen in Blokhus, Denmark July 7, 2021. Claus Bjoern Larsen/Ritzau Scanpix via REUTERS

In the small seaside town of Blokhus in Denmark, the world's tallest sandcastle has been completed, weighing nearly 5,000 tons and towering over 20 meters high, its designers said Wednesday.

Standing 21.16 meters high (69.4 feet), more than three meters taller than a castle built in Germany in 2019, which previously held the title with its 17.66 meters, according to Guinness World Records.
A total of 4,860 tons of sand make up the intricately decorated structure which is reminiscent of a pyramid.

Its creator, Dutchman Wilfred Stijger, who was assisted by 30 of the world's best sand sculptors, wanted the castle to represent the power of the novel coronavirus over the world since the beginning of the pandemic.

Atop the sandcastle is a model of the virus wearing a crown.

"It's ruling our lives everywhere," Stijger said.

"It tells you what to do.... It tells you to stay away from your family and not go to nice places. Don't do activities, stay home," he added.

To make it more cohesive, the sand contains approximately 10 percent clay and a layer of glue was applied after it was completed so that it could stand up to the chilly and windy conditions of the autumn and winter.

Inhabitants of Blokhus have also been delighted to see local features incorporated into the sandcastle, such as windsurfing and kite-surfing, beach houses, fish and lighthouses.

The castle is expected to stand until the heavy frost sets in, meaning it should last until February or March.



EU Monitor: 2024 'Increasingly Likely' to be Warmest on Record

People cool off on the "Miroir d'Eau" water feature (Reflecting Water) in Bordeaux, south-western France on July 28, 2024, as a heatwave spreads across southern areas of the country. (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP)
People cool off on the "Miroir d'Eau" water feature (Reflecting Water) in Bordeaux, south-western France on July 28, 2024, as a heatwave spreads across southern areas of the country. (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP)
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EU Monitor: 2024 'Increasingly Likely' to be Warmest on Record

People cool off on the "Miroir d'Eau" water feature (Reflecting Water) in Bordeaux, south-western France on July 28, 2024, as a heatwave spreads across southern areas of the country. (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP)
People cool off on the "Miroir d'Eau" water feature (Reflecting Water) in Bordeaux, south-western France on July 28, 2024, as a heatwave spreads across southern areas of the country. (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP)

It is "increasingly likely" 2024 will be the hottest year on record, despite July ending a 13-month streak of monthly temperature records, the EU's climate monitor said Thursday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said last month was the second warmest on record books going back to 1940, only slightly cooler than July 2023.

Between June 2023 and June 2024, each month eclipsed its own temperature record for the time of year.

"The streak of record-breaking months has come to an end, but only by a whisker," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.

Last month the global average temperature was 16.91 degrees Celsius, only 0.04C below July 2023, according to C3S's monthly bulletin.

But "the overall context hasn't changed, our climate continues to warm," said Burgess.

"The devastating effects of climate change started well before 2023 and will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach net zero," she said.

From January to July global temperatures were 0.70C above the 1991-2020 average.

This anomaly would need to drop significantly over the rest of this year for 2024 not to be hotter than 2023 -- "making it increasingly likely that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record", said C3S.

- 'Too hot to handle' -

July 2024 was 1.48C warmer than the estimated average temperatures for the month during the period 1850-1900, before the world started to rapidly burn fossil fuels.

This has translated into punishing heat for hundreds of millions of people.

The Earth experienced its two hottest days on record with global average temperatures at a virtual tie on July 22 and 23 reaching 17.6C, AFP quoted C3S as saying.

The Mediterranean was gripped by a heatwave scientists said would have been "virtually impossible" without global warming as China and Japan sweated through their hottest July on record.

Record-breaking rainfall pummeled Pakistan, wildfires ravaged western US states and Hurricane Beryl left a trail of destruction as it swept from the Caribbean to the southeast of the United States.

Temperatures for the oceans, which absorb 90 percent of the excess heat caused by human activities, were also the second warmest on record for the month of July.

Average sea surface temperatures were 20.88C last month, only 0.01C below July 2023.

This marked the end of a 15-month period of tumbling heat records for the oceans.

However, scientists at C3S noted that "air temperatures over the ocean remained unusually high over many regions" despite a swing from the El Nino weather pattern that helped fuel a spike in global temperatures to its opposite La Nina, which has a cooling effect.

On Wednesday, World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Celeste Saulo reflected on a year of "widespread, intense and extended heatwaves.”

"This is becoming too hot to handle," she said.