BBC Focus

EYE OPENER

Horde of

the rings

DAYING COUNTY,
SICHUAN PROVINCE,

CHINA

And you thought your local
swimming pool was crowded.
Thousands of rubber-ringed
revellers descended upon the
Dead Sea of China water park this
summer when temperatures in
the Sichuan province soared to
nearly 40°C.
This pool, which can fit up to
10,000 people, was inspired by the
Dead Sea in the Middle East.
Visitors are encouraged to float in
the naturally buoyant saltwater,
although we admire anyone who
can relax when multiple limbs are
jabbing into their inflatable.
Globally, this July was the
warmest month on record.
Incredibly, each consecutive
month this year has broken its
own temperature record, a fact
which experts are attributing to
rising greenhouse gas emissions.
“While the El Niño event in the
tropical Pacific this winter gave a
boost to global temperatures from
October 2015 onwards, it is the
underlying [long-term warming]
trend which is producing these
record numbers,” says Gavin
Schmidt at NASA’s Goddard
Institute for Space Studies.

PHOTO: EYEVINE