Most of India’s districts are experiencing extreme humid heat even during monsoon months (June, July, and September), according to a new report titled “Managing Monsoons in a Warming Climate”, reported HT.
The study released ahead of the NYC Climate Week scheduled for September, states that over 84% of Indian districts are prone to extreme heatwaves, with 70% of them also witnessing increased frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events.
The newspaper writes:”Extreme heatwave days across the March-April-May (MAM) and June-July-August-September (JJAS) months have risen 15-fold in the last three decades. In the past decade alone, there has been a 19-fold increase in extreme heatwave days.” Extreme heatwaves and rains are causing loss of lives and livelihoods, the report said.
Over 140 mm rainfall that triggered Wayanad landslides was Kerala’s third-heaviest rainy day: Study
The over 140 mm rainfall on July 30, 2024 in Northern Kerala that triggered multiple landslides in Wayanad was historically Kerala’s third heaviest monsoon day and is linked to human-induced climate change, says a study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA). The rain landed on soils that were already highly saturated with 30 days of continuous rain, the analysis underlined.
The climate crisis made rain 10% heavier, but the 62% reduction in forest cover increased the susceptibility of the slopes to landslides, HT reported citing the same analysis. The landslides in Mundakkai and Chooralmala in Meppadi claimed more than 230 lives. The Kerala Bank waived off the loans of victims and survivors of the landslides.
Building roads, changing land use impact genetic connectivity of herbivores in central India: Study
A new study found that changes in land use patterns and the development of roads in central India are disrupting the genetic connectivity of large herbivores gaur and sambar.
The study stated that both gaur and sambar responded negatively to land use changes, and the impact was more pronounced in gaur populations.
Mongabay reported that the researchers hope that studies like this will help spur evidence-based approaches to maintaining connectivity for multiple endangered species in priority landscapes like central India.
Mumbai, Panaji, Chennai may lose 10% land to rising sea; Mangalore, Udupi 5% by 2040: Study
Around 5% of land in coastal Karnataka’s Mangalore and Udupi, over 10% of land in Mumbai, and up to 10% in Panaji and Chennai may go under sea by 2040 due to climate change-induced sea-level rise, according to a new study by Bengaluru-based think-tank Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP).
Marine geologist R Shankar at Mangalore University told Down To Earth that the best thing to do is to stop construction activities on and near the coastline. And move away from the coast, allowing nature space to play. Marine geologists of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa told the DTE, lakhs of rupees are spent on the ineffective practice of dumping boulders along the shores. This exacerbates the rise of sea level, disrupting the natural flow of sand. They pointed out that the sand removed by the sea is typically returned to the same location before the next monsoon, a process hindered by artificial barriers.
Atlantic sea surface temperatures significantly impact frequency of extreme heatwaves in US
Sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean significantly influence the frequency of compound humid heat extremes – the deadly co-occurrence of high temperatures and humidity – in southeastern US, stated a new study. Using an Earth-system model, researchers studied a range of factors that could potentially help predict the onset of these extreme events.
They find that abnormally warm ocean temperatures can affect the atmospheric circulation, bringing heat and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to the south-eastern US. They conclude that “the results of this study have potential applications in the development of early warning systems” for humid heat extremes.
UN science body IPCC’s input into key UN climate review at risk; countries clash over timeline
Countries once again failed to agree on a timeline for producing key climate science reports (AR7: 7th assessment report) over political differences at a meeting of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently, Climate Home reported. At the talks in Sofia, Bulgaria, rich countries and vulnerable island nations supported a faster process that would see three flagship reports assessing the state of climate science delivered by mid-2028, in time for the next global stocktake – the UN’s scorecard of collective climate action. But developing countries China, India, Saudi Arabia, Russia and South Africa – backed by Kenya – opposed an accelerated timeline, arguing that more time is needed to ensure greater inclusion of experts and research from the Global South, which would result in “robust and rigorous” scientific output.
Earlier, “fraught talks” in January ended with the same outcome. The issue will be debated again at the next gathering in February 2025, while a separate expert meeting is tasked with drafting the outline of those reports by the end of 2024. The climate news outlet said the IPCC has long struggled with ensuring adequate representation of expert voices from the Global South. Only 35% of the authors working on its sixth and latest assessment report hailed from developing countries, according to a study published in the journal Climate, up from 31% in the previous cycle.
Ahead of last week’s meeting, a group of 40 IPCC authors from developing countries published an open letter arguing that the AR7 reports “can and must” be produced by June 2028 in order to remain policy-relevant.
Above 36°C temperature throws curveball at Paris Olympics
As the Olympics 2024 began in Paris, most of France was under heat warnings, with temperatures in Paris hitting 36°C, Carboncopy reported. According to the Climate Central’s Climate Heat Index, high temperatures in Paris were made four times more likely because of climate change.
The average temperature during the months of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games has risen by 3.1°C since 1924, with scientists at Climate Central warning that “scorching days (with highs of 30°C or above) are now nearly three times more frequent in Paris than when the city last hosted the Games.”
Athletes wore ice vests as temperatures reached 35°C at the Olympic Games in Paris on July 29, BBC News reports adding: “The sailing events are taking place in Marseille, on the Mediterranean coast in the south of France, where competitors wore ice vests to try to counteract the heat…Tennis players were given an extended break between the second and third sets in the men’s and women’s singles.”
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