Weather extremes on the rise as region prepares for hottest day ever
Scientists in Cambridge are warning that this week’s extreme hot weather may not be a one off.
Temperatures have already climbed above 30C in some parts of the UK today after a tropical night - with some places like Wattisham in Suffolk and Cromer in Norfolk staying above 20C overnight.
Now experts fear heatwaves will become more common because of global warming.
Research being carried out at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge is helping unpick what is going on with our climate.
Click below for Matthew Hudson's report
It’s minus 20 degrees in the ice lab at British Antarctic Survey. It is so cold staff rarely stay in there for more than 15 minutes without a break.
Studying the ice core is providing a better understanding of how a rise in the Earth's temperature is leading to extremes in climate.
Amy King, a research scientist, said: "Looking at Earth's past climate is how we can better predict the future.
“We look for times in the Earth's past where climate has been possibly warmer, like we're expecting to happen in a few years time.
“Learning about what happened to the Earth and its atmosphere then will help us to predict it in the future.”
The work in Antarctica involves carefully drilling down to recover ice up to a million years old. Experts have to ensure the samples are free of any contamination.
Back in the lab the ice can be melted releasing air contained in the tiny bubbles, allowing scientists to measure levels of carbon dioxide.
Over the last million years the Earth has had periods where its temperature has fluctuated significantly. The fluctuations are reflected in the amount of carbon dioxide found in the ice core, but these periods lasted for thousands of years.
What scientists know is that the massive and apparently unprecedented spike in CO2 levels that we're now seeing happened in just decades.
The research helps explain our current heatwave and the record temperatures being seen in Europe.
Click below to hear from Dr Elizabeth Thomas, head of the Ice Core Team
Dr Elizabeth Thomas, head of the Ice Core Team at the British Antarctic Survey, said: “The earth’s climate has gone through major changes in the past. We’ve had warm periods that we’re into at the moment and then we’ve also had ice ages and those changes in temperatures can be huge.
“But those are very much a natural cycle to do with the positioning of the earth, and those are sort of natural cycles that happen and we’ve got very good documentation of that.
“What we’re seeing now is something that looks unusual on that baseline of change and the important thing to note is actually it’s the rate of change.
“So these big changes have occurred in the past of maybe tens to twenty degree changes, they happen over thousands of years, whereas some of the changes we’re seeing at the moment are happening in the order of decades.”