Two Swiss scientists claim that man-made global heating is currently responsible for 75% most of the globe’s extremely hot days. They also claimed that global warming may be responsible for 18% the majority of our heavy rains and snowfalls. Professor Reto Knutti and Erich Markus Fischer from the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich in Switzerland published their results in Nature Climate Change. They claim that this is the first time that figures have been put on the effects of additional greenhouse gases like CO2 being released into the atmosphere as a result. Combining data from 25 climate models, Fischer and Knutti concluded that human activities are responsible for three quarters of all daily heat extremes as well as 18% heavy rain/snowfall. Global warming is responsible for three-quarters the number of extreme heat days. The scientists also stated that global warming is responsible for 0. 85degC in the last 100 year. According to the authors, future records for hot/or rainy days worldwide will likely be affected by increased atmospheric CO2. Dr. Fischer, the lead author said that climate change does not cause every weather phenomenon in a predictable way. However, a more humid atmosphere clearly favors frequent hot-and-wet extremes. This is consistent with previous research in climate and weather extremities. Quirin Schiermeier reported this latest finding in Nature News. For example, a study in Nature published four years back found that the likelihood of flooding in England or Wales due to climate change had already increased by two-thirds. This is similar to the floods that took place in 2000.. The latest study shows that the impact of humans on the moderate extremes will increase with each degree Celsius rise. Fischer and Knutti discovered that if the Earth’s average temperature rises 2degC more than it did before industrialization, then human-induced climate changes would cause 40% extremes in rain, snow, and heat. 18% Heavy rainfall can be attributed to humans’ influence on climate. Higher temperatures can have a significant impact on heavy rainfall. A 2degC rise in the average global temperature would result in a doubled chance of an extreme heat event, compared with a 1.5degC change and five times the likelihood under current conditions. Dr. Fischer stated that “the rarer and more severe an event is, the greater the risk we can attribute climate warming to.” Critics wonder if climate models have the ability to predict future rain trends. Kevin Trenberth is a climate scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado. He said that all weather events can be influenced by changes in the environment. Although the global view provided by the authors is useful, none of their models accurately predict precipitation and many are very bad. Michael Oppenheimer on the other side, who studies climate policy at Princeton University, New Jersey said that the risk of premature death from heat has increased already and will likely increase sharply in the future. Clearly governments must not just slow down global warming but also plan for the future. Citation: E. M. Fischer & R. Knutti. Nature Climate Change. Published 27 April 2015. DOI: 10. 1038/nclimate2617.
Study claims 75% of hot days are due to global warming.
