Clipping Board » Environmental Pollution & Change ─ How dirty the human heart is, how dirty the environment will be...
Update Date: 2009/08/12 14:05
Typhoon Morakot brought astonishing rainfall, causing severe disasters in central and southern Taiwan. The Central Weather Bureau faced criticism for inaccurate forecasts. Scholars from Academia Sinica pointed out that rainfall prediction is extremely challenging. The high-intensity rainfall this time is closely related to global warming. Observing recent years, the intervals between extreme climate anomalies are becoming shorter. Both the government and the public should take the warning signs from nature seriously. (Reported by Chen Yihua)
Typhoon Morakot's passage resulted in the most severe flooding in Taiwan in 50 years. Wang Chung-ho, a researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences at Academia Sinica, analyzed that the record-breaking heavy rainfall was caused by energy imbalance due to global warming, combined with the typhoon's airflow, leading to devastating losses.
Wang Chung-ho stated: "After climate warming, all atmospheric and oceanic conditions are changing. The sea surface temperatures around Taiwan have been consistently higher than usual. When seawater temperatures are higher, evaporation is particularly strong, and the amount of water vapor entering the atmosphere increases. With the right airflow conditions, this leads to extremely intense rainfall. In the case of Typhoon Morakot, all these conditions aligned perfectly."
Wang Chung-ho warned that previous events, such as Typhoon Nari in September 2001, Typhoon Mindulle in July 2004, and recent years' plum rains, all involved strong southwest air currents bringing abundant moisture and heavy rainfall. Additionally, the increasing frequency of extreme climate events observed recently indicates that after disturbances in Earth's energy system, the time required to develop the next extreme rainfall or abnormal weather event can shorten. Therefore, both the government and the public must actively engage in environmental protection and carbon reduction efforts to mitigate future environmental impacts.
Wang Chung-ho suggested that future rainfall observations should account for the potential effects of warming, expand monitoring ranges, and upgrade system hardware and software capabilities. Preparing for the worst while striving for the best may be the optimal strategy to cope with increasingly severe extreme rainfall scenarios.
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 090812/ 1/ 1ovr9. html
Disaster: Experts Warn Global Warming Fuels Extreme Weather
Typhoon Morakot brought astonishing rainfall, causing severe disasters in central and southern Taiwan. The Central Weather Bureau faced criticism for inaccurate forecasts. Scholars from Academia Sinica pointed out that rainfall prediction is extremely challenging. The high-intensity rainfall this time is closely related to global warming. Observing recent years, the intervals between extreme climate anomalies are becoming shorter. Both the government and the public should take the warning signs from nature seriously. (Reported by Chen Yihua)
Typhoon Morakot's passage resulted in the most severe flooding in Taiwan in 50 years. Wang Chung-ho, a researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences at Academia Sinica, analyzed that the record-breaking heavy rainfall was caused by energy imbalance due to global warming, combined with the typhoon's airflow, leading to devastating losses.
Wang Chung-ho stated: "After climate warming, all atmospheric and oceanic conditions are changing. The sea surface temperatures around Taiwan have been consistently higher than usual. When seawater temperatures are higher, evaporation is particularly strong, and the amount of water vapor entering the atmosphere increases. With the right airflow conditions, this leads to extremely intense rainfall. In the case of Typhoon Morakot, all these conditions aligned perfectly."
Wang Chung-ho warned that previous events, such as Typhoon Nari in September 2001, Typhoon Mindulle in July 2004, and recent years' plum rains, all involved strong southwest air currents bringing abundant moisture and heavy rainfall. Additionally, the increasing frequency of extreme climate events observed recently indicates that after disturbances in Earth's energy system, the time required to develop the next extreme rainfall or abnormal weather event can shorten. Therefore, both the government and the public must actively engage in environmental protection and carbon reduction efforts to mitigate future environmental impacts.
Wang Chung-ho suggested that future rainfall observations should account for the potential effects of warming, expand monitoring ranges, and upgrade system hardware and software capabilities. Preparing for the worst while striving for the best may be the optimal strategy to cope with increasingly severe extreme rainfall scenarios.
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 090812/ 1/ 1ovr9. html