Because of the increasing concentration of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, the average temperature has significantly increased at world level during the 20th century, especially between 1919 and 1945 and after 1976. Global warming is quite appreciable in the northern hemisphere at high and medium latitudes. The European Union should be particularly concerned by this trend.

 

• The map represents only annual average: such a method smoothes the seasonal variations. The most concerned regions of Europe by the increase of average temperatures are the Iberian Peninsula, the northern part of Eastern Europe and the south-eastern past of France.
• Beside the warming, southern Europe already undergoes significant rain deficits (- 20 % in some regions) when northern Europe has experimented important increase (+10 to +40%).
• The graph compares the warming at European and at world levels. Since the 19th century, the warming has been more rapid in Europe than the world average: + 0.8° C for the former, + 0.6° C for the latter over the 20th century.