A new study has found evidence that greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning are altering the climate. They found that it can lead to life-threatening extreme weather. Lead author, Michael Mann, will appear before Congress on Wednesday to testify on global warming before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, led by Texas Republican Lamar Smith.
The new study was published on Monday under the journal Scientific Reports. It examined temperature data of jet stream and winds that flow around the Northern Hemisphere. The Rossby wave's pattern measures winds from west to east that loop from north to south between the tropics and the Arctic.
The Pennsylvania State University climate scientist said he and his colleagues at research institutes in the United States, Germany and the Netherlands extensive climate data and discovered that a particular type of jet stream pattern is associated with many of the extreme events in recent years. With increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, the persistent weather events may become more prominent over time according to The Inside Climate News.
It showed that the greenhouse gas buildup slows down the Earth's atmospheric waves and results in regional summer climate extremes. Mann said that it included a deadly 2003 European heat wave, extensive wildfires in Siberia and severe flooding in Pakistan in 2010. In the course of 100 years the pattern has become more frequent said co-author Stefan Rahmstorf, scientist from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
The Rossby waves shape day-to-day and seasonal weather and it has lingered longer over particular regions where greenhouse gases have increased. The Arctic warms up faster than the equator, which is evident with Siberia's summer heat wave and simultaneous widespread flooding in Pakistan as an example of a stuck pattern.
Mann said the study suggests that climate change is leading to a changing pattern of atmospheric flow. Major implications for the weather are felt by a massive swath of the global population according to ADN.
It has sparked half a decade of criticism and congress this week is expected to debate about the severity of climate change.
