CLIMATE CHANGE

ChinmayaIAS Academy - Current Affairs July 21, 2021 GS, GS3 Leave a comment 346 Views

People around the world have been doubly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and extreme weather events which experts say have been fuelled by climate change

Important points:

The unprecedented heat wave that drove temperatures across Canada and parts of the United States to a record high, causing hundreds of deaths between June 25 to 30.
The recent floods in Germany that killed over 180 people in the country.
Floods have also been reported across several Asian countries, in China, India and Indonesia.
Cyclones Tauktae and Yaas that hit India’s west and east coasts respectively.

Causes:

The temperature of the Earth is rising every year and increasing temperature and extreme sunshine on top of it creates a low-pressure system.
Due to which the hurricanes and other tropical storms get their way to start.
The jet stream is found where the cold air from Earth’s poles meets with warm tropical air.
These winds help to continue and control the weather system from west to east in the northern hemisphere and from east to west in the southern hemisphere.
Sometimes these winds bring unpleasant weather with them which may lead to the formation of a tornado.
When too cold high-pressure systems meet with too warm low-pressure systems, the chances of extremely high waves on sea surface increases.
The too cold high-pressure systems originate from sub-polar land whereas too warm low-pressure systems originate from temperate seas.
The weather systems (such as air masses, fronts, etc.) keep on moving in a proper way which helps to maintain the weather conditions in a smoother way.
When the weather conditions come across any disturbance in between, it creates disasters.

Climate Change:

The world temperature has increased quite high from the past few decades and even keeps on changing year after year.
One of the big reasons for the increase in Earth’s temperature is the level of CO2.
As the CO2 is increasing in the atmosphere, the temperature of the earth is also increasing simultaneously.
As the world temperature is increasing due to global warming simultaneously the effects of it are also increasing.
Global warming is contributing to intensifying heatwaves.
Global warming also boosts the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere which may lead to causes of severe weather like heavy rainfall, heavy snowstorm, etc.

Concerns:

The rise in average global temperature is linked with widespread changes in weather patterns.
The rising average global temperature is making heavy rainfall more likely.
Warmer air carries more moisture, meaning that more water will be released eventually.
Extreme weather events like heat waves and extreme rainfall are likely to become more frequent or more intense with rising anthropogenic climate change.
The Theory of Anthropogenic Climate Change is that humans are causing most of the current changes to climate by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
Temperatures at the Earth’s poles are rising at two to three times the temperature at the equator.
This weakens the jet stream of the mid-latitudes, situated over Europe.
During summer and autumn, the weakening of the jet stream has a causal effect resulting in slower-moving storms.
This can result in more severe and longer-lasting storms with increased intensity.
Also, according to a study, human-induced global warming has contributed to the increased frequency and intensity of cyclonic storms over the Arabian Sea.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MNT

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