AUSTRALIA-ARGENTINA: EXTREME HEAT WAVE
AUSTRALIA-ARGENTINA: BURNING
OUT.
The Southern Hemisphere is
wrapped up in an extreme heat wave that climate change scientists have been
predicting for quite some time. A number of articles from Australia deal with
this mostly unprecedented heat wave quite similar to what Argentina has been
supporting more or less at the same time. And predictions are not pleasant!
Bureau of
Meteorology map for January 8 shows area of deep purple over Australia. Shades
of deep purple and magenta have been added to the forecast map for temperatures
up to 54 degrees Celsius (Source:
BoM)
HEATWAVE BRINGS FIRES,
BLACKOUTS, HEALTH DANGERS AS ADELAIDE BECOMES WORLD'S HOTTEST CITY (http://www.abc.net.au/news,16 Jan 2014)
Southern
Australian states are bearing the brunt of near-record heat, while Australia Capital
Territory is also weathering scorching temperatures.
For the first time, the Bureau of Meteorology has
provided a national definition of a heatwave. It says there are three grades of
heatwave, with severe and extreme posing the most serious risk.
Adelaide was confirmed as the hottest city in the world
soon after midday and its temperature peaked at 44.2C this afternoon, short of
the forecast 46C. The record high of 46.1C was recorded during the January 1939
heatwave. Melbourne is facing its longest run of 40C days since 1908, when
there were five straight. The temperature did not drop below 27.2C in the
Victorian capital overnight and the mercury hit 43.9C at 3:14pm (AEDT).
BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY REVEALS FIRST NATIONAL HEATWAVE DEFINITION (http://www.abc.net.au/news
For the first
time, the Bureau of Meteorology has provided a national definition of a
heatwave. A heatwave is now defined by three or more days of unusually high
maximum and minimum temperatures in any area. "tandard heatwave will only
have slight effects on the general population. A severe heatwave is when we
start to see on the elderly and also people with debilitating illnesses. Extreme
heatwave conditions are when the general public and also infrastructure can be
affected. Extreme levels of heat will also coincide with dangerous fire weather
conditions across the southern states.
Severity on
people depends on whether or not the population will be acclimatised to warmer
conditions. In placea where you can have ongoing hot conditions a rise of a
couple of degrees has less impact than where maximums usually sit around the
low to mid 20s for the summer because the
population is not acclimatised to that heat.EXTREME HEAT WAVES TO BECOME MORE COMMON (http://www.abc.net.au/, News in Science, 15 August 2013; Source:
Extreme
heat waves like those that hit Australia in 2009 will become more common and
widespread (Source:
Mick Tsikas/Reuters)
Climate
change will trigger harsher and more frequent heat waves in the next 30 years
regardless of the amount of Earth-warming carbon dioxide we emit, a study
reveals.
But targets
adopted today for curbing greenhouse gas emissions will determine whether the
pattern stabilises thereafter, or grows even worse.More extreme events could emerge: five-sigma events which are now essentially absent will cover a small but significant fraction (about three percent) of the global land surface by 2040. Five-sigma events are described as "unprecedented" heat waves by the researchers and extreme events as three-sigma.What happens after 2040 can still be influenced by what we decide now.
The negotiations have been slow and the yearly rise in emissions has led some scientists to conclude that warming of 3 or 4°C is probable by century's end.
Finally an event that can be linked to climate change has been of such magnitude and impact that many people are now sitting up and taking notice.
The extreme heatwave is a notice that we need to take climate change seriously — but already the climate denial camp are viewing these extreme events as business as usual.
The USA had a similar experience last year with Superstorm Sandy: a nasty, unprecedented weather event of horrendous impact that was also in line with the predictions made by climate science over the last couple of decades. Sandy came off the back of an even more devastating drought across much of the USA during the preceding northern summer that has also been linked to climate change.
Finally many Americans started to ask if these were the hallmarks of climate change. The country which has been the most inactive of nations with respect to recognising climate change and implementing measures to mitigate against its worst effects started to sit up and take notice. Climate change suddenly became very real and very serious. And to just drive the message home a little more clearly, last week it was announced that 2012 was the hottest year on record for the continental USA.
And that's right when Australia was delivered its climate clout: a savage reminder that what the climatologists have been saying for the last 20 years or more is real and has potentially devastating local consequences.
People who cannot access cooled environments are at risk.
The response of turning on air conditioners only exacerbates the problem of
global warming. The only correct response is to slow down, and ultimately
reverse, the warming.
Almost as
soon as the discussion got started in Australia, the forces of denial and
ignorance sprang back into life. Let us hope that future discussions around climate change and what to do about it will be free of invented factoids and misinformation. It's time to take the science seriously. We are witnessing the consequences of ignoring that science and pretending that climate change isn't occurring. It's a heavy price we are paying and that debt is only going to increase if we don't wise up.
-----------------------
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario