UK residents move north as researchers study climate history and island resilience

The United Kingdom experienced its hottest summer on record with five successive heat waves and widespread drought, according to NPR. Mike Coe and Susan Chinnery reported that extreme heat in southern England prompted them to move to the Isle of Skye and the Orkney Islands in Scotland. Coe stated he moved to escape hot summers in the British Midlands.

Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University reconstructed 16,000 years of summer temperature changes from Lake Prokoško in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the study published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, mean July temperatures were below 8°C around 14,600 years ago before rising to approximately 10.2°C. The researchers used chironomid larvae head capsules preserved in sediment to estimate these temperatures.

A study in Science Advances found that seabird guano moves nutrients from the ocean to land, which helps maintain the reef and structure of atoll islands. Nicholas Graham, a professor at Lancaster University, stated that seabirds and native vegetation support the resilience of islands against sea-level rise. Graham said rewilding islands that lost seabirds to rats could build climate resilience.