A study by American scientists found that cataclysms will intensify as the climate crisis accelerates.
Scientists from NASA warn that due to global warming, the risk of droughts and floods has increased throughout the world.
This is according to the latest study published on Monday in the journal Nature Water.
Increasingly frequent large-scale and intense droughts and floods are more strongly linked to rising global temperatures than to natural changes in weather patterns, according to the study. This means that these intense events will intensify as the climate crisis accelerates.
The study’s lead author and hydrologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Matthew Rodell, said he looked at 20 years of NASA satellite data, from 2002 to 2021, and analyzed the size, duration and severity — how much wetter or drier than usual — in extreme conditions.
“The study found 505 extreme wet events and 551 extreme dry events during this period, of which approximately 70% lasted six months or less and about 10% lasted more than a year. These extreme events have increased in intensity and frequency since 2015, when the trend began record warm years,” the scientists found.
The most extreme wet event occurred in 2020 in sub-Saharan Africa, where months of intense rain caused Lake Victoria to swell. The rising water flooded homes and affected critical infrastructure such as drinking water, medical facilities and hydroelectric power stations.
the most intense drought was in Brazil and Venezuela from 2015 to 2016. The drought seriously threatened hydroelectric power plants, drained critical reservoirs, and reduced crop yields.
We will remind, in Indonesia on the island of Java on Saturday, March 11, the eruption of the Merapi volcano began.
