After the species was identified near Iceland’s capital, Antarctica remains the world’s only mosquito-free haven.
Mosquitos have been detected on Icelandic soil for the first time on record.
Up until this month, Iceland was one of the only places on the planet that didn’t have a mosquito population thanks to its inhospitable climate and lack of stagnant water. The only other mosquito-free haven is now Antarctica.
Now, climate change is warming the country at four times the rate of the rest of the northern hemisphere, resulting in unprecedented glacier melt and frequent heatwaves.
In May this year, Iceland recorded its hottest ever day, with temperatures climbing to a staggering 26.6°C, while regions of the country saw temperatures more than 10°C above average during spring.
It is feared this rapid warming may allow the infamous insect to survive in the country and establish itself across the nation’s marshes and ponds.
Insect enthusiast Bjorn Hjatason is believed to have come across three mosquitoes in the glacial valley of Kjós, near Reykjavik, while using wine-soaked ropes that are typically used to observe moths.
On Thursday, 16 October, he shared his discovery on a local Facebook page, describing the first insect he caught as a “strange fly”.
“I could tell right away that this was something I had never seen before,” he wrote.
Hjatason sent the three mosquitoes to the Natural Science Institute of Iceland, where entomologist Matthías Alfreðsson identified them as two females and one male Culiseta annulata.
These types of mosquitoes are more cold-resistant than others and can be found in harsh climates such as Siberia.
Alfreðsso says the species often seek shelter in indoor areas such as barns to withstand harsh winter conditions.
Is climate change attracting mosquitoes?
The entomologist isn’t sure whether climate change can be solely blamed on the arrival of mosquitoes, but warns: “Warming temperatures are likely to enhance the potential for other mosquito species to establish in Iceland, if they arrive.”
It’s also possible the insects could have arrived from other countries via ships or containers.
Several years ago, a mosquito from a different species was discovered on an aeroplane at Keflavík International Airport. However, the insect has never been spotted in the wild until this month.
Further monitoring will now be required to confirm whether the mosquito species has become “truly established” in Iceland.
Melting glaciers and thermal expansion are driving the ‘acceleration’ of sea level rise to record levels.
Sea levels are rising faster than at any point in the last 4,000 years, highlighting the urgent need for “global and local” action.
On the other hand, new research has warned that climate change and human activities are driving the surge, which poses a serious threat of flooding for major cities around the world.
The report says that while rising seas are a global issue, China faces a “double threat” as its largest and most economically important cities are particularly prone to sinking.
Scientists at Rutgers University examined thousands of geological records from several sources, including ancient coral reefs and mangroves, which are often used as a “natural archive” of past sea levels.
They reconstructed sea level changes going back almost 12,000 years to the beginning of the Holocene, the current geological epoch, which began around 11,700 years ago after the last major ice age ended.
Published in Nature, the findings show that since 1900, global sea levels have increased at an average rate of 1.5 millimetres a year.
According to Yucheng Lin, who conducted the research, this pace exceeds any century-long period in the past for millennia.
The study outlines two “major forces” that are driving the acceleration of sea level rise: thermal expansion and melting glaciers.
As climate change increases the temperature of the planet, oceans are absorbing more heat and expanding. At the same time, ice sheets in polar regions are melting at unprecedented rates, adding more water to the oceans.
“Getting warmer makes your ocean take up more volume and the glaciers respond faster because they’re smaller than the ice sheets, which are often the size of continents,” says Lin.
“We are seeing more and more acceleration in Greenland now.”