«The situation is very critical. We must not let ourselves be influenced by the recent snowfalls in Orobie and believe that global warming does not exist. Unfortunately, the data from our satellites reveal exactly the opposite.”
Ilaria Zilioli, from Bergamo, legal officer of the European Space Agency, ESA, at its headquarters in Paris, talks to us about the Sentinels satellites of the Copernicus project, the Earth observation programme, in an extensive interview published on eco.bergamo, the 52-page supplement on the environment, ecology, green economy on newsstands on Sunday 16 June for free with L’Eco (it will then remain available in a digital edition on this site). “Our satellites detect temperatures on a global scale, including those of the seas and oceans.”
Copernicus records that the average global temperature for the twelve months from June 2023 to May 2024 was the highest, 0.75°C above the average for the thirty-year period 1991-2020 and 1.63°C above that of the pre-industrial era. This temperature is already above one and a half degrees, the best objective of the Paris Climate Agreement, to be achieved by reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activities, in particular by fossil fuels.
Today, satellites can predict the weather and extreme events, made more intense and frequent by global warming. «The role of issuing alerts – explains Ilaria Zilioli – for predictable extreme events thanks to the analysis of satellite data then falls to the competent bodies and authorities, to whom we provide the data. The Sentinels reveal, in particular, that the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea are much warmer than in the past, with temperatures up to 6 degrees above average and serious consequences on the marine ecosystem and climate. Higher water temperatures can cause tropical storms and hurricanes, making floods more likely, or disrupt the rainfall cycle resulting in droughts and fires on land. As global ocean temperatures continue to rise, marine heat waves have become more widespread and are expected to increase in intensity, duration and frequency in the future.”
ESA, to demonstrate solidarity with Bergamo hit hard by Covid-19, has made available to the city one of the most innovative applications among those offered by the Agency’s technologies, the Mafis Urban Forest project. The aim is the monitoring of forests and green areas in urban contexts by combining the cadastral data of the Municipalities with satellite data.
«We can observe – highlights Ilaria Zilioli – the periodic temperature maps and heat islands in Bergamo. These areas have a higher surface temperature than those characterized by a greater development of vegetative land cover, due to the high density of buildings and the concentration of pavements and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat”. A compass for the urban planning of the city.
