May 15 is International Climate Day
Every year, May 15 is observed worldwide as International Climate Day. The main purpose of establishing such a special day is to draw the attention of the international community to combating climate change within the process of sustainable development of the world. During the 26th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), held in Glasgow in 2021, our republic officially set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2050 as a contribution to initiatives aimed at mitigating global climate change.
Muhtar Babayev, the Presidential Representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan on climate issues, stated during a recent Agribusiness Development Forum that: “In 2025, the average temperature across the country reached 14.3 degrees. This is 1.6 degrees higher compared to previous periods. The highest average temperature nationwide was recorded in 2021 at 16.2 degrees.” He further noted that heat waves in the country have become more frequent and longer-lasting.
Hasan Nabiyev, leading researcher of the Climate Department at the Institute of Geography of the Ministry of Science and Education of Azerbaijan, PhD in Geography, stated in an interview that the study of climate change is one of the most important and relevant problems of modern climatology. Its investigation has great scientific and practical importance in our country as in every region of the Earth. The causes of these changes are complex, diverse, and have a combined impact.
The main reason for global warming is considered to be the increased concentration of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere due to anthropogenic impact in most countries of the world. In 2015, our country joined the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. According to this agreement, signed by 196 countries, the goal was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the global average temperature increase from exceeding 1.5°C. Our country, like others, has taken obligations and has begun to successfully fulfill them.
The holding of COP29 in Azerbaijan also demonstrates once again that our country takes this issue very seriously. However, it should be noted that these obligations must be fulfilled by all countries; otherwise, achieving positive results is impossible, as air knows no borders. We must also not forget the role of natural factors. As early as 2019, scientists from the International World Weather Attribution group noted that the recurrence of extreme heat waves has increased more than tenfold compared to the past 100 years. According to their data, heat waves a century ago had temperatures about 4°C lower than those observed today.
The anomalous events that occurred in March–April 2026 in Baku and several regions of Azerbaijan—flooding, mass mudflows, and other dangerous natural phenomena—are also closely linked to climate change. At the end of March, a moisture-saturated upper-level cyclone formed in the northeastern Caspian Sea in the middle layers of the troposphere, affecting not only the sea but also large areas of the country, causing precipitation several times above normal and leading to urban flooding problems. Such processes occur rarely. Usually, an anticyclone forms to the northeast of Azerbaijan, especially over Western Siberia and Kazakhstan, while cyclonic activity intensifies over the South Caucasus, bringing air masses into the country. However, in such cases, temperatures decrease and precipitation is not usually high. This unusual natural phenomenon can be associated with climate change.
The process that began on April 4 is related to southern cyclones entering the country. A high-pressure trough extending from the Scandinavian Peninsula to the central Mediterranean intensified the formation of cyclones as cold air masses moved along its rear side. In the next stage, this cyclone moved eastward and northeastward toward the South Caucasus countries, causing heavy rainfall and snowfall.
According to the specialist, climate change in the territory of Azerbaijan is associated with an increased recurrence of destructive natural phenomena (floods, flash floods, hail, etc.), changes in circulation conditions, strength and direction of prevailing winds, intensification of meridional processes, increased intrusion of southern cyclones into the country, rising air temperatures in both lowland and mountainous regions, decreasing precipitation, and emerging water scarcity problems.
Our studies show that these changes in Azerbaijan are directly linked to increased solar activity. In the current 25th 11-year solar cycle (2019–2030), solar activity has intensified, leading to increased variability and more frequent meridional processes, which in turn have caused an increase in natural disasters.
According to Hasan Nabiyev, during summer months, meridional circulation types are more frequently observed. In such cases, anticyclones formed in polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere move southward and merge with the subtropical anticyclone ridge, forming a high-pressure belt that blocks western air flows from the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, anticyclone ridges over Eastern Europe and Siberia extend toward the South Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, creating stable weather conditions and leading to higher air temperatures.
Another cyclone is located over Western Siberia and covers a vast area. Over Central and Eastern Europe, there is a northward-extending ridge of the subtropical anticyclone. Such a configuration of baric systems in the middle troposphere leads to the development of the Azores anticyclone in the lower atmospheric layers over Southern Europe and the North Caucasus, sometimes extending into Azerbaijan, disrupting zonal circulation over the Caucasus and increasing meridional flow. As a result, air mass transformation occurs in the studied area, relative and absolute humidity decrease, and conditions for drought and high temperatures are formed.
