Scientists explain in detail the role of climate change in the density of Ida

 

Scientists explain in detail the role of climate change in the density of Ida

Scientists said a combination of climate-related factors such as rising ocean temperatures and rising sea levels.

Jonathan Overbeck, a climate scientist and dean of the University of Michigan's School of Environment and Sustainability told The Hill that warm ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico had boosted Ida in such a short time.

"Warm ocean temperatures cause these big tropical storms. So, with Ida, I've seen it rapidly intensify into a Category 4 storm, and that's a real signal of classic climate change," Overpack said.

He said that ocean heat causes evaporation, which plays a crucial role in how storms form and their intensity level. Two other factors are precipitation from the warming atmosphere and storm surge exacerbated by sea-level rise.

"I'd be willing to bet the money that once you've done ... the research, it turns out this storm was heavily fraught with climate change in all three respects," Overbeck said.

These factors are part of a larger pattern, said John Nielsen Gammon, a professor at Texas A&M University and a climate scientist at Texas State.

"We can't be sure that there was a single hurricane, but records show that - in the Atlantic basin at least - major hurricanes are becoming more common, rapid intensification is becoming more common, torrential rain from hurricanes has become heavier, and sea level has increased, making storms higher," Nielsen said. Jamon.

On Monday, President Biden spoke with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) and Tate Reeves (R) of Mississippi, as well as local leaders such as Jackson, Mississippi, Mayor Chukwui Antar Lumumba (D), and Baton Rouge, the mayor of Los Angeles. Weston Broome (D).

"I know you're busy like the devil. I know you have a lot to manage in your states," Biden said at the White House. "We know Hurricane Ida has the potential to cause massive and massive damage, and that's exactly what we saw."

The storm, which killed at least one person in Louisiana, follows stern warnings from the United Nations about hurricanes.

A report from the Panel on Climate Change, released earlier this month, said that hurricanes, in general, may have become more severe over the past few decades and will continue to get worse.

The proportion of hurricanes with the highest wind speed categories - categories 3 to 5 - has increased over the past 40 years ago, the report said, adding that human-caused climate change has increased the heavy rainfall associated with hurricanes.

According to the report, as temperatures rise, the overall proportion of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes is expected to rise. More intense storms are expected for the US Gulf Coast, East Coast of North America, and the Caribbean.

Instead, he said, "climate change tends to load the dice, so to speak, into more severe storms" and raise the odds of any given storm turning into a powerful hurricane.

"If you look at the number of storms, the number of hurricanes" in recent decades, "it has decreased, but you see an increase at the highest levels," he added.

"One of the strongest predictions about climate change is that we will see an increase in the occurrence of the most violent storms (Cat 4 and Cat 5)," said Susana Camargo, a professor in the Department of Oceanic and Climate Physics at Columbia University. . in a message. "Multiple studies have analyzed this issue for historical data and found that we already see an increase in the incidence of the storms."

She added that in the Atlantic, this year's hurricane season has been hectic in terms of storm numbers, especially with Ida, Julian, and Kate forming today." She said that very few seasons had seen many storms early in the season in previous years, with peaks tending to. The drop is around September 10.

She said the 2021 season is also ahead of the regular season by other metrics, such as those that depend on the duration and severity of the storm.

"We are still at the beginning of the season to see how the whole season will turn out, but the seasonal expectations for a season are higher than usual," she said.