Mediterranean

“they paint a lot for the Mediterranean communities of Spain”

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Between July 15 and August 15 the worst of the summer is concentrated. And it’s not a figure of speech: the hottest June day never registered in Spaindoes not even reach the top 20 of the hottest days ever recorded. Those four weeks are hell: the letters that the weather hands us every year. That is, the dog days. There is nothing new here if I tell you that it will be hot. What is new is that we arrived with two heat waves, 1,682 deaths attributable to heat and meteorologists like José Miguel VIñas warning that “They paint a lot for the Mediterranean communities of Spain“We arrived, then, with our tongues hanging out. What has happened to the dog days in the last 50 years? That’s a good question: if we go to the studio Heat waves in Spain since 1975 from AEMET, we found very interesting things. In general terms, the 75 heat waves that we have experienced in recent years follow a distribution very similar to that of decades ago. The window has not widened too much: it has moved forward somewhat, but (above all) it has filled up. The number of days of heat waves has multiplied by 2.3, but the only substantial thing that has changed is that: where there was heat before, there is now much more. The least obvious consequence… is that the traditional alarm calendar and the real risk calendar have become decoupled. If we look at the MoMo (mortality estimates from the Carlos III Health Institute), May left 123 deaths due to heat; June, 1,031; and the first week of July (which coincided with the second heat wave), 622. We have already borne a large part of the ‘bill’ of a normal summer and the worst part has not yet begun. And what can we expect? Right now the least risky forecast is simple: “a powerful ridge of African air, dry, very warm and dusty” will cause temperatures to skyrocket in the coming days. The situation is so extreme that, always according to the available models, there are some areas where temperatures close to absolute records are expected. And we must not forget that we are already close to 40 in many parts of the country (the provinces of Lleida and Zaragoza They scored 39 or more the day before yesterday and Valencia stayed close). A push of heat on this situation is just what we don’t need. Are we really going to reach 45 degrees? It is very difficult to make temperature estimates for so many days (even more so when it seems that there will be haze), but the possibility is on the table. They are alsothe hellish nights. Whatever happens in the next few days, it makes sense for us to start preparing. Image | BenBaso In Xataka | The networks are filling up with maps that promise the end of the heat. One thing is what we would like and another, very different, is what we know

In the Mediterranean it no longer makes sense to talk about a “tropical night” because almost all of them are.

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On June 21, the thermometer at Almería airport did not drop below 30.8ºC throughout the night. In fact, at seven in the morning the temperature was exactly the same as it would have been on an August afternoon twenty years ago. It seems like an isolated event (after all, it is the first time that we have encountered a minimum like this in the Mediterranean in June), but it is not. Just a handful of days later, the AEMET experts made it quite clear: it no longer makes much sense to talk about “tropical nights” in the Mediterranean because almost all summer nights already are. That is, almost no drops below 20 degrees. The June heat wave was (quite) exceptional. Not only because the 22nd and 23rd were the warmest June in the country since at least 1950; nor because the average peninsular anomaly was 7.1 ºC. The most striking exceptionality occurred in the early morning: according to the same AEMET24 of its 86 main stations marked the highest minimum in the historical series. That was the symptom. But the problem is another. A problem that has to do with an indicator that jumps so much that it has stopped meaning something just when we need it most. Or, at least, when we are most aware of the lack of it. In 2025, A CSIC research team published a work in Environment International in which he analyzed 178 cities, separating the effect of warm nights from that of warm days. Their conclusions indicate that nocturnal heat is associated with an increase in mortality of up to 3% and that this effect is independent of daytime heat. The mechanism is also dramatically simple: if the early morning does not ease, the body does not recover, sleep is degraded and cardiovascular or respiratory pathologies worsen rapidly. Why should we care? Because southern Europe is among the regions hardest hit by temperature changes. But there is something else: the same CESIC studyexcess mortality due to nocturnal heat in Spain is concentrated in the interior (Granada, 3.56%; Madrid, 3.45%; or Córdoba, 3.44%) while the Mediterranean coast is holding up much better (Barcelona, ​​0.56%; Alicante, 0.55%; or Almería 0.46%). That is, the problem is adaptability to these types of phenomena. Something in which the coast wins because it has been suffering from it (to a lesser extent, but suffering from it) for many years. The future we are going to. AEMET projects to go from the current 22 heat wave days per year to 47 at the end of the century with intermediate emissions. Preparing is no longer an option if we don’t want to. paint the windows of half the country with chalk or white yogurt. Image | Christian Van Der Henst In Xataka | Beyond gazpacho and salmorejo: Spain’s hidden summer dishes that are crying out to become popular

Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. It is part of a geological plan: close the Mediterranean

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Spain and Portugal are dancing to a different rhythm than the rest of Europe. They are moving clockwise and the consequence is clear: a long-term closure of the Mediterranean that connects the Iberian Peninsula directly to North Africa. The convergence between continents is slow, a few millimeters a year (so we will continue needing the tunnel between Spain and Morocco), but one thing is clear: another Pangea is on the way. And the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco will be a unit. In short. Continental plates move. Some separate, others collide, and that continental drift has caused the emergence the Pangea Ultima theory. In 250 million years, there will only be one continent. There is a long way to go for that, but now, researchers from the University of the Basque Country, in collaboration with the universities of Palermo and Granada, have analyzed geodetic data that allows them to affirm that the Iberian Peninsula is rotating clockwise. This east-west rotation is driven by the convergence between the Eurasian and African plates, and the conclusion is clear: both are moving between four and six millimeters closer each year. This information is not new, but the researchers’ discovery is to specify the processes that take place at the diffuse boundary of the two western Mediterranean plates. Thanks, Gibraltar. Although the boundaries of other plates are well defined, this does not occur in the Western Mediterranean. There, the processes are much grayer, and there is something called “Gibraltar Arch” which plays an interesting role in this tectonic dynamic. To the east of the strait, the crust absorbs the deformation caused by the collision between the Eurasian and African plates. This ‘Gibraltar Arc’ acts as a buffer, but it has a consequence: in the west of the strait there is a direct collision between the plates, while in the east it is absorbed by the Gibraltar Arc. This lack of buffering from the southwest is what causes the clockwise rotation. Rotational strain rate field. Positive values ​​correspond to clockwise rotation, while negative values ​​refer to counterclockwise rotation. Active and potentially active faults are marked with solid and dashed gray lines, respectively. Double analysis. The researchers combined two types of accuracy analyzes to obtain these results. On the one hand, those of satellite deformation through GNSS system (Global Navigation Satellite System). Analyzing the data, they measured surface displacements with millimeter precision, relying on both permanent and occasional GPS markers. On the other hand, they also analyzed information from recent earthquakes that allowed them to determine the tectonic “stresses” in the area. They are independent data sets, but by crossing them they were able to draw a series of ‘lines’ that have allowed them to better specify the boundary between the plates. So that? Well, to better understand which sectors are in direct collision between plates and which are still more protected by the Gibraltar Arc. And the neighbors? The problem is that, although they claim that it is a rapid tectonic movement, this is true in geological terms. For us it is invaluable, but it also comes into play that we only have satellite data since 1999 and detailed seismic data since the 1980s. Even so, if with such a short range of data we have reached that conclusion in the annual approach, it is because the phenomenon is not in a hurry, but it does not pause either. And the most interesting thing is that this only affects the Iberian Peninsula. It is not that we are going to separate from France, since we ‘drag’ the rest of the continent thanks to the effect of the Gibraltar Arc, but we are not turning in the same direction as other neighbors. Italy, for example, experiences a counterclockwise rotation that exerts pressure in the alpine zoneand in the anatolian plate (where most of Türkiye is), there is also this counterclockwise rotation. Hello, Morocco. While in Turkey the consequence may be more earthquakes or mountain formations, this current speed of between 4 and 6 millimeters will cause, at some point, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco to unite. This continental collision would close the Mediterraneanbut there is a lot left for it. How much? About 100 million years. They estimate that for 20 million years we will continue at the same speed, but within about 50 million years, things will gain momentum, accelerating the process and turning the region into one of the most active volcanic and seismic areas on the planet. It’s… foolish to worry. present utility. Now, beyond curiosity, the most immediate implication that the researchers point out is a better identification of active faults or areas in which previously unidentified tectonic structures could exist. Asier Madarieta-Txurruka, one of those responsible for the investigation, explains This information indicates where to look for these structures and boundaries to determine what type of folds and faults there may be. Thus, we can anticipate the type of earthquake that there will be and its magnitude in areas such as the Western Pyrenees or the region of Cádiz and Seville in which we know that there are numerous places with significant deformationbut we do not have well identified the active tectonic structures that cause them. And, although there is still a long way to go before the Alps and a new mountain range are founded across the peninsula and all of North Africa to Arabia, knowing better what we have right under our feet is much more useful. In Xataka | We knew that Africa was going to split in half. What we didn’t know was that it would happen so quickly.

The blue crab is a pest throughout the Mediterranean. In Italy they have found the key to resist the invasion: cultivate oysters

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It’s not no newcomer to the Italian coasts, but still the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) represents a huge headache for the Government of Georgia Meloni. Originally from the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, this crustacean with powerful pincers, a bluish color and a voracious appetite has turned Italy’s clam and mussel production upside down, causing millionaire lossesthreatening jobs and affecting the country’s culinary tradition. To combat it, in Italy they have resorted to huge networksthey have financed their capture and have even opened their restaurants to blue crab. Now, in the absence of results, they are adopting a new strategy: farming oysters. A blue and pincer threat. He Callinectes sapidus (the famous blue crab) is recognized above all for its tone and its claws, so powerful that they allow it to easily climb and break fishermen’s nets. However, there is another trait that defines it much better: the voracity. An insatiable predator, it devours clams, mussels, fish eggs, other native crabs with weaker shells… The same resources that have kept thousands of fishermen afloat for generations and nourished part of Italian gastronomy. It is assumed that the Callinectes sapidus takes in Italy since 1940but now its expansion begins to reach unsustainable levels. “A desert”. “The blue crabs are eating everything. This stretch of lagoon is turning into a desert,” regretted a few years ago from the Po Delta Gianluca Travaglia, a 52-year-old fisherman dedicated to catching clams. The situation was so drastic that, he admitted, some of his colleagues no longer used networks. “The crabs swim towards them and break them.” In 2023 Flu Fedaa sector association, estimated the economic impact of the invasive species at about 100 million euros in Italy. According to his calculations, the predator was killing about 90% of the young clams in the Po delta. Daniela Borriello, from Coldirettishared in 2024 another estimate: In the northern Adriatic, the area most affected by the invasion, production has plummeted by 80%. “The jobs of 3,000 people are in danger.” Looking for solutions. The situation is so dramatic that both the authorities and the fishermen themselves have sought ways to stop the plague. In the Venetian lagoon, for example, clam farmers have come to “fortify” your nurseries with nets that appear five feet above the water. Without success. Crabs climb and break them. Campaigns have also been launched to remove tons of crabs from the coasts and invested million of euros in the fight against the invasive species, although without great results. The warming of the oceans and the absence of predators do not make it easy for fishermen either, so some time ago in Italy they took heart and they applied an old strategy: ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’. Or eat them, if necessary. The chefs they started looking ways to include the invasive species on your plates or look for new marketslike the US or China. Is it a solution? It certainly doesn’t seem optimal. And for several reasons. To begin with, more and more scientists warn of the environmental risks of ‘invasiveness’the trend of opening local cuisines to invasive species and turning species like blue or Kamchatka crab into ingredients. In the specific case of Callinectes sapidus, Their consumption does not seem to be arousing passions in Italy either, despite the attempts of some chefs to incorporate them into their pasta dishes. The Italian economic environment Quifinance assures that only 15% of blue crabs find an outlet in the food market and their commercialization is limited by the complexity of their processing. In fact, other avenues are already being tested, such as its use in feed. Oysters to the rescue. Beyond the nets, mass captures or their incorporation into local cuisine, in Italy they have deployed another strategy to fight against blue crabs. Which? Bet on oysters. As points out Il Sole 24 Orethe idea is very simple: move from clam nurseries to the cultivation of oyster varieties that, due to their characteristics, are much more resistant to attacks by blue crabs. It’s not just theory. In the Sacca di Goro lagoon (located in the Po Delta), fishermen’s cooperatives they have already diversified its production betting on stras. “More resistant”. “A first step has been taken thanks to the financing, through the Development Fund, of a study dedicated to the enhancement of crab meat,” comments Roberto Saviniby Confcooperative Romagna-Estense. “At the same time, cooperatives have begun significant investment in the cultivation and marketing of certain oysters.” Even media like The Republic have been echoed how there are fishermen dedicated to clams who have decided to switch to oysters, “more resistant.” One of the most recent cases It is left by the Goro cooperatives, in Ferrara, which, faced with the harassment of the blue crab, have decided to give more weight to oyster cultivation. Specifically, the professionals from Gorino and Sant’Antonio have begun to invest in varieties that are a priori more resistant to the new predator (such as Mignon or Lampa) and that at the same time can have an outlet in the Italian gastronomic market. Solved then? No. The commitment to oysters is just one of the strategies deployed by the Government and Italian fishermen. And it is not without challenges either. One key is the image that oysters have. Unlike clams, a large part of the market continues to view them as a luxury item. To solve this and aware of the opportunity they represent for the fishing industry, Italy has considered reducing its VAT, passing it from 22 to 10%. “Oysters are a luxury good because they are expensive, not because nature has made them luxurious,” recognize the Minister of Agriculture. Another challenge is to expand the gap that oysters now occupy in the market. Fedagripesca estimates that Italians consume around 10,000 tons of oysters annually, the vast majority (97%) of foreign origin. “Italy, with its more than 7,000 km of coastline, could compete with France for the title of cradle of the oyster, recovering a production … Read more

It is increasingly common to find jellyfish on Mediterranean beaches before summer. And it’s a bad sign

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Last weekend and the one before that I tried to swim at the beach. However, upon seeing a few jellyfish I ended up deciding to spend time reading in the sand. The worst of the afternoon was not that. I found more annoying a few teenagers playing soccer a few meters from my towel. Jellyfish, after all, are in their habitat. But it is true that I had never seen in my entire life jellyfish in the month of May. I did some research and discovered that in recent years their arrival in the Mediterranean at this point in spring has become more and more frequent. They are even starting to appear in other waters in which they are not normally so abundant. Logically, the first thought that came to mind was that is related to global warming. The temperature of the Mediterranean has risen at a dizzying rate in recent years. However, I had the feeling that there must be something more. After all, the water has been warming for many years, but this boom in jellyfish populations (known as bloom, by the way) seems more recent to me. To answer my questions, I have contacted Jose Carlos Báez, Chief Program Researcher at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, CSIC. As I feared, warming water plays a role, but there are even more factors that affect this uncontrolled proliferation that is becoming more and more noticeable. Three phases to give rise to adult jellyfish Although there are small variations between some species and others, in general the reproductive cycle of jellyfish consists of three phases. On the one hand there are the larvae, which float in the water until they find a place to cling to on the seabed. When they achieve this, they move on to the polyp phase, which can last up to a year. When conditions are favorable, the polyp fragments, releasing the ephyras, which are small immature jellyfish that, over time, become the adult jellyfish. The transition from polyp to jellyfish It is known as strobilation and depends on factors such as the temperature of the water, the oxygen dissolved in it or the availability of food. Jellyfish are only released into the water if they are going to be able to live in it. The surface temperature of the water is a determining factor. In fact, it has been observed that with an increase of 1.7°C The rate of asexual reproduction in the polyps of some species is accelerated by 20%. Therefore, strobilation normally occurs at the beginning of summer. It may vary between species. In some it occurs at the end of spring, but it is more common for it to take place from June onwards. According to José Carlos Báez, this is causing “a dilation of the reproductive period“, so we are seeing more generations of jellyfish in a single season. They arrive earlier and leave later. Not everything is going to be global warming The massive proliferations that we are seeing with increasing frequency on beaches are known as blooms. As we have seen, global warming is causing us to start seeing jellyfish earlier and stop seeing them later, but it does not seem to be the cause of the blooms. “It is difficult to affirm with complete certainty that the total biomass of jellyfish in the Mediterranean has increased due to climate change, mainly because we do not have sufficiently long and homogeneous historical series that allow us to compare the current situation with that of past decades,” says Báez. “However, there is evidence that jellyfish blooms, as well as the arrival of large swarms in coastal areas, appear to be increasingly frequent and prolonged.” The problem of overfishing “In a healthy ecosystem, teleost fish eat especially zooplankton, in which ephyras are found,” explains Báez. Among those fish that ephyras eat, sardines stand out, for example. On the other hand, adult jellyfish are typically preyed upon by turtles, but also by large fish such as tunas, to which tuna belongs. All of this, taken together, helps keep jellyfish populations more or less stable. Because of overfishingthere are fewer and fewer predators for jellyfish. There are, for example, fewer sardines being eaten in their ephyra phase and fewer tuna eating adult jellyfish. If we add to all this that more generations of jellyfish are born in a season due to warming water, we have the perfect cocktail for the appearance of blooms. The whiting that bites its tail (pun intended) In 2022, José Carlos Báez’s team published a study in which another less known relationship was described between the populations of jellyfish and sardines or anchovies. We have already seen that fish feed on the zooplankton in which ephyras are found, so they can help regulate jellyfish populations. However, what happens next is not so well known. Adult jellyfish can also feed on the eggs of sardines and anchovies. Therefore, if there are too many jellyfish, they can deplete the sardine population, so there will be fewer of these adult fish to continue feeding on the ephyras. As a result, there are even more jellyfish and we start again. The balance between one predator and another is broken and clearly leans towards the proliferation of jellyfish. Furthermore, in that study a relationship was also found between the proliferation of jellyfish and the decrease in weight of adult sardines. And, in turn, adult jellyfish also feed on zooplankton, which is why they compete with sardines and anchovies for food. If there are many, they do not allow them to feed properly. Not everything is jellyfish in the gelatinization of water With the proliferation of jellyfish, something known as water gelatinization is occurring. Logically, these animals, with their gelatinous appearance, have a great influence. But they are not the only ones who favor that aspect. Other gelatinous animals also proliferate, such as ctenophores. In addition, the water looks cloudier due to excess algae. This is because great eutrophication is occurring in the Mediterranean. … Read more

the Mediterranean reaches 20 degrees and today a DANA is going to show us what it means

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Let’s start at the beginning: what is going to happen today in Castellón is something completely ordinary. A DANA coming down from the Cantabrian Sea and discharging water over the interior and coast of Castellón, perhaps some hail and intense gusts of wind. The extraordinary thing is everything else, everything that surrounds it: the warmest April in decades, the Mediterranean with a ‘heat wave’ at the beginning of May and the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen in the coming years. What we do know is what is going to happen now. Because, as I said, the DANA was located on the Cantabrian Sea and has been moving towards the east. The point is that the most unstable sector of this DANA spreads today over the north of Castellón. Once there, the DANA, the surface winds and a steep orography facing southeast force the rise of humid air from the Mediterranean. That is the recipe for potentially very intense convective nuclei in inland regions. By Wednesday or Thursday the situation will improve. As I say, a priori, it is nothing exceptional… Although we normally associate DANAs with autumn, the truth is that spring is also a time when they are abundant. What makes this event worth studying is the context that surrounds it. …except for one thing. At the end of April, anomalies of 2 to 3 degrees were recorded in the Gulf of Valencia, the area around the Balearic Islands and Catalonia. A fact that summarizes all this: the Sa Dragonera buoy It touched 20 degrees on April 26while the average for the Balearic Sea in April is 14.9. A warmer Mediterranean in spring is equivalent to more moisture available in the lower troposphere. When there is a contribution of cold air at altitude, that moisture becomes fuel: greater convective instability and more intense rains in less time. This is the problem. While AEMET maintains the yellow noticethere is no reason to assume more danger than expected. However, it is true that it is increasingly difficult to rule out torrential accumulations in any month of the year. The question is not whether it will rain a lot or not, the question is that DANAs arise on a Mediterranean different from the one that served as a reference to build our infrastructures and our warning thresholds. Image | BenBaso In Xataka | There are meteorologists who are already comparing El Niño of 2027 with that of 1877, a catastrophic event that wiped out 4% of the population

While the hantavirus from the MV Hondius cruise makes headlines, the closest health risk is 10 km from any Mediterranean city

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When the MV Hondius left Ushuaia heading to Antarctica on March 20, no one could imagine the hell they were about to live: 150 people of 23 different nationalities, a relatively small ship and a virus that has already caused the death of three passengers. The Dutch shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions consider now docking in the Canary Islandswhich guarantees extra media attention. And yet, the health risk is minimal. In fact, the true health risk for Spain lies elsewhere: much closer. “Risk”? Yes, ‘risk’ is the word and the best example is Andalusia. March 2, 2026 the Board announced that its Strategic Plan for Surveillance and Comprehensive Vector Control until now limited to the West Nile virus will incorporate (for the first time) the monitoring of dengue, chikungunya and Zika. It seems somewhat anecdotal, but what it hides is a profound epidemiological change: not only Andalusia, but the entire Spanish Mediterranean is becoming the perfect ‘breeding ground’ for the mosquitoes that spread all these diseases. What’s more, all this coincides temporally not only with the largest dengue epidemic ever recorded in the Americas (12.6 million cases)but with the historical record of indigenous chikungunya in continental Europe. Dengue in Spain. It is worth stopping at this because, according to data from the National Center for EpidemiologySpain reported 1,119 cases of dengue in 2024 (compared to 615 in 2023, 503 in 2022 and 50 in 2021). It is true that the majority are imported, but indigenous cases are growing. It is not a minor issue: before 2018 We had gone almost a century without indigenous cases in Spain. What changes for someone who lives in Spain? Today, 66% of the Spanish population already lives in municipalities with confirmed presence of tiger mosquitoes. This means that the individual risk of contracting diseases such as dengue, chikungunya or Zika remains low and localized (without having left the country), but it is certainly on the table. As Pamela Rendi-Wagner, director of the ECDC, pointed out last year, we have entered a new normal. And we have to learn that this situation is not fought with headlines but by eliminating stagnant water in patios and terraces. It is worth remembering that the (immense) majority of epidemics in the last 40 years have not been due to unknown diseasesbut to known diseases that went beyond their usual niche. That’s what we’re about to see: a bunch of diseases moving across a continent that has no recent experience managing them. Image | Mithil Girish In Xataka | Mosquitoes attack me in summer and I tried these TikTok tricks to get rid of them

We always believed that the Mediterranean was “closed” with an apocalyptic waterfall in Gibraltar. 50 years have qualified it

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If we travel to the past and stand in the Strait of Gibraltar 5.96 million years ago, we would see how it was closed and not open as is the case right now. This is something that left a Mediterranean isolated from the Atlantic, causing its water to begin to evaporate and leaving only a kilometer of salt on the bottom in an event known as the ‘Messinian salinity crisis‘. But now, the method by which it was ‘opened’ to give rise to the Mediterranean that we know today has undergone different nuances. What we knew. Until now it was thought that hundreds of thousands of years after this closure of the strait, a tectonic collapse occurred that reopened the passage, causing what is known as ‘Zanclian Megaflood‘. This was nothing more than a large waterfall in Gibraltar which supposedly filled the entire sea in a matter of months or a few years. In anyone’s mind this may be something great and like a real Hollywood movie, but the reality is that science is beginning to show many doubts that this exists. The origin of the myth. This mental image of the Strait of Gibraltar did not come out of nowhere, but in 2009 the magazine Nature public a study that modeled how the Atlantic would have breached the Gibraltar barrier, carving a deep canyon and pouring water at great speed. Without a doubt this was the perfect scenario to explain the erosive scars on the seabed. Although he was not alone, since later studies were added to this that, although they clarified how the salinity was stabilized after the event, they continued to find clear evidence in the geology that pointed to yes there were flooding episodes very abrupt and a violent flow of water that would make sense with this large waterfall. The problem is that this great phenomenon was oversimplified when complexity is its great characteristic. There are changes. Fifty years after the first hypotheses were raised, a large study published in 2025 pointed out that the connection between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean could have continued to exist for much of this period of time. But this is something that makes us raise another question: how is it possible then that kilometers of salt accumulated on the bottom if the sea did not dry completely? This is where the ‘‘paradox of the Mediterranean’ which suggests that changes in precipitation and the immense contribution of fresh water and sediment from European and African rivers allowed certain water levels to be maintained. That is why that scene of a completely dry Mediterranean is not so true, since only a little water was lost and it effectively made the water very salty. And more tests. Besides, studies on the Arch of Gibraltar demonstrate that the reduction in connectivity was due to a constant tectonic tug-of-war. That is why the pass never became a hermetic wall of solid rock that would break overnight, but rather a system of thresholds that allowed continuous leaks. The reality. After all, the question we must ask ourselves is whether there really was a flood or not, and here science suggests that the truth is somewhere in the middle. The latest evidence tells us that the total disconnection was real, but very brief in geological terms, since when the Atlantic finally regained definitive control over the Mediterranean basin, the filling was undoubtedly rapid and spectacularly rapid, although not necessarily through a single and apocalyptic cataract in Gibraltar. A scene that in the end can be much more boring for many. Images | wirestock In Xataka | 4.5 billion years at a glance: the amazing map of the moon that translates every impact and volcano into fascinating code

There is a Russian bomb floating in the Mediterranean coming from Ukraine. And Europe trembles because it can explode at any moment

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It is a fact that most of the world’s trade moves by sea. This means that every day thousands of ships cross key routes very close to European coasts. In this constant traffic, a single out-of-control incident is enough to put entire ecosystems in check and force several countries to react at the same time. The war in Ukraine has just ended activate one of them. A bomb adrift in the heart of Europe. The situation is the following: in the Mediterranean right now there is more than just a damaged ship, the Arctic Metagaz is a latent threat that mixes war, energy and environmental risk in a single point. We are talking about a loaded Russian tanker with gas, fuel and diesela ship hit by a drone attack from Ukraine that sails uncontrollably, with structural damage and a real risk of explosion. Not only that. It appears to have no crew, is leaking and catching fire, and is moving slowly between European waters and North Africa. What makes it especially disturbing is not only its condition, but its origin: It is one more piece of the war being fought in Eastern Europe that has ended up floating in the Mediterranean, moving the conflict directly to the doors of the entire continent. It’s not just the front anymore. The episode confirms something that was already intuited for some time: that the war between Russia and Ukraine is no longer confined to the Black Sea or the land front. Ukraine has expanded its radius of action by attacking Russian ships on much more distant routes, including those that are part of the called “ghost fleet”key to avoiding sanctions and financing the Kremlin’s war effort. These increasingly frequent attacks turn ships into de facto military targets, even if they are sailing through international waters or near European territories. The result is an extension of the conflict that blurs borders and places Europe in an uncomfortable position, because it is not a direct part of these attacks, but its potential scenario. Arctic Metagaz Ecological risk and implications. The immediate danger right now it’s pretty obvious: an explosion or massive spill in an area of ​​high ecological value could cause lasting damage in the Mediterranean, affecting protected ecosystems and coastal economies. But the problem goes beyond the environmental impact. These types of incidents also reveal to us the fragility of the maritime system in times of hybrid war, where poorly maintained, aging ships, with opaque structures and no safety guarantees, They circulate on key routes. The combination of sanctions, evasion and attacks turns these ships into risk vectors that can trigger crises at any moment. Europe and the threat. The European reactionwith Italy and France along with several EU members warning of the imminent risk, reflects a growing concern: countries have asked a coordinated response facing a problem that is not only specific, but structural. The difficulty in intervening (whether due to weather conditions, the location of the vessel or legal issues) also represents a capacity and governance vacuum in nearby waters. While Russia he ignores of incident management and points to coastal states as responsibleEurope faces a rather complex dilemma: managing the consequences of a war in which it neither controls the origin nor the evolution. Symbol of a new phase. If you also want, the derived from the Arctic Metagaz summarizes like few elements the evolution of the current conflict: a war that no longer only dynamits infrastructure on land, but is capable of turning the sea into a space constant riskwhere each asset can become a threat. It is not just, therefore, an accident or an isolated episode, but the proof (one more) that the conflict has acquired an unpredictable dimensionwhere an action in Ukraine can end up generating a crisis thousands of kilometers away. And that is precisely what it has of the nerves to Europe: not knowing when or where the next impact may materialize. Image | war-sanctions.gur.gov.ua In Xataka | While we all look at Iran, in Ukraine they continue doing their thing: robot against robot battles where humans only watch In Xataka | Ukraine has become the world’s leading specialist against Iranian drones. And he won’t share his antidote

After historic rains and floods in Andalusia and Extremadura, it is the turn of another region: the Mediterranean

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Right now, as I write these lines, Catalonia is closed hard due to strong gusts of wind. From 12 midnight to 8:00 p.m., all educational and sports activities and non-urgent health care are suspended. But it is not the only bad news that comes from the Mediterranean: the flow of the Júcar has been shot as it passes through Cuenca (that is, before any important tributary flows into it) and has already entered the red level. We are talking about an account that, discounting Tous (which is at 34% and is for security reasons), has all its reservoirs above 70% capacity. What is happening in the Mediterranean? Beyond the last storms. Yes, it is true: the reservoirs are in an unbeatable moment after the accumulated rains since January 1 exceed three times the normal value (for the average of the years 1991-2020). In fact, the water reserve has experienced the best week of growth since records began: in just seven days, the levels have grown by 10.1%. The problem is that reservoirs and aquifers are not the only places where water accumulates. Therefore, changing patterns is a poisoned gift. Let’s not fool ourselves, it’s still raining in many areas of the country. Less than the previous weeks, but it’s still raining. However, as explains Andrea Danta“the first day without widespread rain in Spain will come as a consequence of a progressive reorganization of atmospheric circulation that will begin at the end of this week and will be consolidated as of Sunday, February 15.” And that, paradoxically, will also have its problems. It’s time to think about the snow. And, when we talk about Júcar, for example, it is inevitable to remember that as of February 2026 the Iberian system () has exceptional thicknesses well above normal at this time. And that snow is going to melt (As will also happen with that of the Pyrenees). And, inevitably, it will end up in the Mediterranean. As is evident, there are many things to take into account: we do not know what will happen in the coming months and how long the thaw will last. But, a priori, problems with the current water situation are almost guaranteed. And that not only translates floods or flash floods. The problems go much further because they break the predictability and constancy of water flows and that affects ecosystems, agriculture and in hydroelectric production. But what is urgent is what is urgent. And the urgent thing is to control the river beds. Something that, in the short term, is increasingly difficult. That is why we are in the middle of a situation of active hydrological surveillance that goes far beyond the Guadalquivir and the Guadiana. In the Ebrothe Arga, Aragón, Gállego (left bank) and the Tirón and Najerilla (right bank) are especially monitored. Inside Cataloniathe upper reaches of the Segre, Llobregat and Ter are monitored. Neither in Júcar nor in Turia active notices that transcend Cuencabut the entry of new fronts and the melting of ice can generate many problems downstream. Image | Water Alternatives In Xataka | After a succession of historic storms, the question is obvious: is Spain becoming a rainy country?

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