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Beijing Sizzles with Hot Weather Alert at Highest Level.

A woman walks with cold patches on her forehead and neck amid a red alert for heatwave in Beijing, China June 23, 2023. (Reuters)
A woman walks with cold patches on her forehead and neck amid a red alert for heatwave in Beijing, China June 23, 2023. (Reuters)
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Beijing Sizzles with Hot Weather Alert at Highest Level.

A woman walks with cold patches on her forehead and neck amid a red alert for heatwave in Beijing, China June 23, 2023. (Reuters)
A woman walks with cold patches on her forehead and neck amid a red alert for heatwave in Beijing, China June 23, 2023. (Reuters)

Beijing on Friday upgraded its warning for hot weather to "red" - the highest in a color-coded alert system - with many parts of the Chinese capital roasting in temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

 

The official temperature for the capital, which is measured from its southern suburbs observatory, hit 40C just after 1:30 p.m. (0530 GMT) on Friday, according to the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Observatory.

 

"This is the first time since the establishment of the observatory that there has been a high temperature of more than 40C for two consecutive days," Zhang Yingxin, chief forecaster of the Municipal Meteorological Observatory, said at a press briefing. The observatory was founded in 1951.

 

On Thursday, the maximum temperature in the city of nearly 22 million people breached 41C and shattered the record for the hottest day in June.

 

A weather station in its southern suburbs, considered to be Beijing's main gauge, recorded 41.1C in the afternoon. The previous June high was logged on June 10, 1961, when the mercury hit 40.6C.

 

The daily maximum logged on Thursday was the city's second-highest in history, just below the 41.9C recorded by Beijing on July 24, 1999.

 

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue. A red alert indicates the temperature is set to rise above 40C within 24 hours.

 

The China Meteorological Administration said on Thursday it expected high temperatures to persist across much of the country's north for the next eight to ten days.

 

High temperature monitoring and warnings would continue on a rolling basis in places including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Henan and Inner Mongolia, it added.

 

In Tianjin, a northern Chinese port city with a population of over 13 million, Thursday's temperature reached 41.2C, smashing local records.

 

Local authorities on Friday warned the extended period of high temperatures could have health impacts, including an increased risk of stroke, and advised people to drink at least 1.5 liters of water daily and limit their time outdoors.

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Study: Deep Ocean Marine Heatwaves May be Under-reported

Waves hit the rocks on the shores of the Pacific Ocean at Rapa Nui national park area managed by the Mau Henua native community at Easter Island, Chile October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
Waves hit the rocks on the shores of the Pacific Ocean at Rapa Nui national park area managed by the Mau Henua native community at Easter Island, Chile October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
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Study: Deep Ocean Marine Heatwaves May be Under-reported

Waves hit the rocks on the shores of the Pacific Ocean at Rapa Nui national park area managed by the Mau Henua native community at Easter Island, Chile October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
Waves hit the rocks on the shores of the Pacific Ocean at Rapa Nui national park area managed by the Mau Henua native community at Easter Island, Chile October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

Heatwaves deep in oceans may be "significantly under-reported", highlighting an area of marine warming that has been largely overlooked, a joint study by Australia's national science agency (CISRO) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found.
The study, which was published on Thursday in the Nature scientific journal, found that 80% of marine heatwaves below 100 meters are independent of surface events, Reuters reported.
It said researchers used observational data from more than two million ocean temperature profiles from global oceans.
"These findings deepen our understanding of the frequency and intensity of extreme temperature events under the ocean surface and possible implications," CISRO's Ming Feng said.
Marine heatwaves are prolonged temperature events that can cause severe damage to marine habitats, such as impacts to coral reefs and species displacement, the study said.
These events are becoming more common due to global warming, causing "catastrophic ecological and socioeconomic impacts," it said.
The majority of previous studies on marine heatwaves have focused on surface signals based on widely available satellite observations of sea-surface temperature.
The finding of separate, deeper warming was particularly worrying, the research found, because it affects the habitat of so many creatures and what they feed on.
"Extreme temperature events below the sea surface are of greater ecological concern because they affect the habitat of most marine primary producers and consumers," it said.
The research also highlighted the influence of ocean currents, in particular eddies, on marine heatwaves, indicating they are a major driver of subsurface events, CISRO said.
Ocean eddies can impact acidification, oxygen levels and nutrient concentrations in the ocean.
Understanding the drivers of subsurface marine heatwaves such as eddies will help to improve assessment of these events in a warming climate and help to predict them in future, it said.