The climate change has increased episodes of heavy rainfall, causing flooding and serious damage, in different parts of the world by 12%, according to a published study, the first be attributed directly to increased warming in these Extreme events .
The study, published in the journal Climatic Change and conducted by three researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research in Germany it concluded that the concentration of cases of extreme rainfall in the last 30 years “unprecedented”.
The researchers analyzed the records of extreme precipitation events in all regions of the planet between 1901 and 2010, sensing that until 1980 natural variations perfectly explain the frequency of these events.
However, coinciding with a significant increase in the accumulation of gas Greenhouse in the atmosphere, in the early 80 events with high intensity rains have been 12% more common between 1981 and 2010 than if there were no climate change.
Scientists cite the severity of some of these extreme events such as heavy rainfall in Pakistan suffered in 2010, which led to flooding, hundreds dead and led to a cholera epidemic in that country.
Other example, are the floods that suffered Texas, also in 2010 due to strong accumulated in a short time rainfall.
“In all these events the rainfall in one day broke record regarding -from 1901 local records and although each case of extreme rainfall is explained by a combination of different factors, we observed a significant increase in the frequency of natural disasters, “he said in a statement Jascha Lehmann, one of the main authors of the study .
So while the average increase in the three decades became 12%, scientists suggest that the increase was significantly higher in recent years analyzed, becoming these events 26% usual normal in 2010.
In addition, while the number of episodes of heavy rains soared in the rainiest areas of the planet, it dropped considerably in the drier.
For example, extreme precipitation increased by 56% in the countries of Southeast Asia, while in the Mediterranean basin or in the Western United States declined by 27 and 21% respectively in the two regions, where it is growing drought risk.
To analyze the relationship between the increase in heavy precipitation events and climate change, the authors have studied the coexistence curve between the amount of water that can accumulate the atmosphere when the temperature it increases based on the Clausius-Clapeyron equation .
The result shows that the increase in extreme rainfall coincides with increasing temperature in the lower layer of the atmosphere due to climate change.
The published study is the first to provide knowledge about the influence of climate change on the multiplication of heavy rainfall events.
kal
No comments:
Post a Comment