The continued increase in global mean temperatures in response to rising levels of greenhouse gases sets the expectation that we’ll see a corresponding increase in global heat extremes. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using GEOS-5 data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC. Red areas are where air temperatures climbed more than 27 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) higher than the 2014-2020 average for the same day. The map is derived from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model and depicts air temperatures at about 6.5 feet (2 meters) above the ground. Map of air temperature anomalies across the continental United States and Canada on June 27, 2021, when the heat intensified and records started to fall in the Pacific Northwest. Get NASA's Climate Change News: Subscribe to the Newsletter » Heat Waves Here are a few examples of extreme events where scientists are finding connections to human activities. In contrast, for extreme events that are more dependent on the dynamics of the atmosphere, the links to human activities are less clear. Credit: CarbonBriefĮvents with a big thermodynamic component – that is, those where there’s a big impact because of heat – are being made more intense or more frequent because of human activities. The studies show particularly strong links between human activities and marine and land heat waves, intense precipitation, intense droughts, and wildfires. Red dots indicate extreme events where scientists found a link to human-caused climate change, while blue dots represent studies that found no link, and grey dots indicate studies where results were inconclusive. In this screenshot of an interactive map produced by CarbonBrief, the various symbols represent different types of extreme weather. Scientists have conducted hundreds of studies of extreme weather events and trends to date to determine whether they can be attributed to human activities. With the help of climate models, scientists have conducted an impressive array of studies, looking for possible links between human activities and extreme events such as heat waves, rainfall and flooding events, droughts, storms, and wildfires. Global Change Research Program, “more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events, as well as changes in average climate conditions, are expected to continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems, and social systems that provide essential benefits to communities.”Īs the impacts of extreme events continue to mount, interest has grown in the scientific community to study whether specific extreme events can be partially attributed to human activities. According to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, published in 2018 by the U.S. There’s growing evidence that people and the planet are increasingly impacted by extreme events. In 2020, the United States experienced a record-smashing 22 weather or climate disasters that each resulted in at least $1 billion in damages, including a record seven linked to landfalling hurricanes or tropical storms. Last year also saw a record number of tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic Basin. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were 22 separate weather and climate-related disasters last year where the overall damages/costs for each reached or exceeded $1 billion. This year’s events come on the heels of a record-breaking 2020 in the United States. Satellite data from NASA and other institutions are critical to understanding how and why extreme events take place. Credit: NASA/USGSįrom the unique vantage point of space, we’ve been able to observe and monitor these events, no matter where they’ve occurred. In these side-by-side images acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite, a pre-flood image of the region along the Meuse and Roer rivers (left) from Jcontrasts sharply with the image at right from July 18, 2021. Some of the worst-hit areas saw as much as two months of rain within 24 hours – enough to break precipitation records, push rivers to new heights, and trigger devastating flash floods. Communities in Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands were hard-hit when extreme rainfall swamped parts of Western Europe in July 2021.
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