Hungary’s natural waters warming faster since mid-1980s, research shows

Hungary’s natural waters have been warming six times faster since the mid-1980s than in the preceding period dating from 1870, the HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network said on Thursday.

A study by the Balaton Limnological Research Institute (BLKI) on the temperature changes in the Pannonian Ecoregion’s natural waters between 1870 and 2021 found that the lakes and rivers examined had been warming throughout the 150-year period, with the more significant temperature changes beginning in the second half of the 1980s.

The average per-decade temperature increase came to 0.32 degrees Celsius over the last 40 years compared with just 0.05 C over the whole period, HUN-REN said.

The study found that Lake Balaton, Lake Fertő and Lake Velence warmed by 0.46 C per decade, while rivers registered a slower average temperature rise of 0.27 C per decade. Over the last 40 years, Lake Balaton’s temperature has risen by 0.46 C per decade. The fastest temperature rise was registered in Lake Velence, with a rate of 0.7 C per decade.

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