[ANALYSIS] Climate change made Europe floods more likely, intense: study
The floods that hit parts of Western Europe from killed at least 220 people in Belgium and Germany.PARIS - Climate change made the deadly floods that devastated parts of Germany and Belgium last month up to nine times more likely, according to an international study published Tuesday.
To calculate the role of climate change on the rainfall that led to the floods, scientists analysed weather records and computer simulations to compare the climate today -- which is around 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer due to manmade emissions -- with the climate of the past. They calculated that the floods were between 1.2 and nine times more likely to happen in today's warmed climate, compared to a scenario where no heating had occurred since the pre-industrial era.
Friederike Otto, associate director of the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute, said that the floods showed that"even developed countries are not safe from severe impacts of extreme weather that we have seen and known to get worse with climate change." This means several events on the scale of the German and Belgian floods are likely across Western Europe within that timeframe, they said.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
SA faces uncertain food futureThe threat to food security has made climate change a much more immediate danger in South Africa, where water scarcity continues to take its toll, experts
Read more »
Carbon tax key in reducing emissions to respond to climate change - Treasury official | Fin24If steps are not taken urgently to lower global temperatures - mainly by reducing carbon emissions - Gauteng risks a day zero or water shortage brought on by climate change extremes, researchers have warned. | LameezOmarjee Fin24
Read more »
No snowfall in Gauteng this week but prepare for a cold front: weather service rubbishes fake reportsPrepare for an intense cold front by Thursday which will likely bring snowfalls over the Western Cape high lying areas and southern high lying areas of the Northern Cape.
Read more »
Climate change: On the hunt for potent greenhouse gasSome critics accuse big business of paying for a quick fix rather than seeking to truly overhaul the environmental impact of their operations.
Read more »
PODCAST | Introducing Wits Plus 2.0SPONSORED | Applications to study part-time degrees at witsplus Centre for Part-time Studies in 2022 are now open until September 30 2021.
Read more »
US and Singapore forge new initiatives, including supply chain talksVice-president Kamala Harris and prime minister Lee Hsien Loong also agree on cybersecurity and climate
Read more »