Blog#5 Airflow changes cause EU and US heat waves

The study of meandering air systems that encompass the globe contributes to the understanding of extremes that have killed thousands of people and as a result there have been spikes in food prices over the past decade. The course of such airflows, start by sucking warm air from the tropics when they flow north and then draw cold air from the Arctic when they swing south, seem to be have slowed more often in recent summers and left some regions sweltering. A tremendous build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is now blamed on human activities. The leading cause is the excess use of fossil fuels. According to the study, the airflows are heating the Arctic faster than other regions and slowing the process that drives the waves. Past studies have linked such extremes to global warming but did not identify an underlying mechanism, said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute and a co-author, who called the findings "quite a breakthrough," he wrote. The study only considered the northern part of the globe, in summertime. Petoukhov led another study in 2010 suggesting that cold snaps in some recent winters in Europe were linked to low amounts of ice in the Arctic Ocean. Weather extremes in the past decade include a European heat wave in 2003 that may have killed up to 70,000 people. In addition a Russian heat wave and flooding in Pakistan in 2010 and a 2011 heat wave in the United States. Almost 200 governments have come to the agreement to accomplish by the end of 2015. The deal will entail combatting rising global greenhouse gas emissions.

The extreme heating has globally caused a number deaths and much larger numbers in damage to the future of wildlife and the environment. It is because of this scale that we refer to this as a global problem. As we become more acquainted with the effects of climate change the process of Environmental preservation is one at which we are still new at and it will take time to lower emissions through several outlets. Governments will need to come to consensus on resolving the affects of the warmth. As noted in class readings the perspective needs to be viewed from both a macro and micro level to understand what will happen and how we, as humanity can prevent it from happening for our future.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/26/global-warming-planetary-airflow-extreme-weather-us-eu

 

Christopher Roberts

1 March 2013

14:58