Climate Change
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canada-man
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Wildfire on Spain's popular tourist island of Tenerife was started deliberately, official says
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands -- Canary Islands regional President Fernando Clavijo said Sunday that police have confirmed that a wildfire raging on the Spanish tourist island of Tenerife was started deliberately.
Clavijo said police had opened three lines of investigation but did not say if there had been any arrests.
Improved weather conditions helped firefighters make advances overnight in their battle to tame the blaze that has raged out of control for the past five days, authorities said Sunday.
“The night was very difficult but thanks to the work of the firefighters, the results have been very positive,” Tenerife governor Rosa Dávila said at a news conference.
Wildfire on Spain's popular tourist island of Tenerife was started deliberately, official says - ABC News (go.com)
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands -- Canary Islands regional President Fernando Clavijo said Sunday that police have confirmed that a wildfire raging on the Spanish tourist island of Tenerife was started deliberately.
Clavijo said police had opened three lines of investigation but did not say if there had been any arrests.
Improved weather conditions helped firefighters make advances overnight in their battle to tame the blaze that has raged out of control for the past five days, authorities said Sunday.
“The night was very difficult but thanks to the work of the firefighters, the results have been very positive,” Tenerife governor Rosa Dávila said at a news conference.
Wildfire on Spain's popular tourist island of Tenerife was started deliberately, official says - ABC News (go.com)
canada-man
Well-known member
Climate of Tenerife
Tenerife is characterized by a generally dry, warm climate. The island has 2 main different climatic areas (as by Köppen climate classification) yet it actually has 5 different climatic areas.[47] The main climates are the hot semi-arid/arid climate (Köppen: BSh and BWh) and the subtropical Mediterranean Climate (Köppen: Csb and Csa) inland or at higher altitudes. The low altitude/coastal areas of the island have average temperatures of 18–20 °C (64–68 °F) in the winter months and 24–26 °C (75–79 °F) in the summer months. There is a high annual total of days of sunshine, and low precipitation in the coastal areas. The inland/high altitude areas, such as La Laguna, receive much more precipitation and are generally cloudier, as well as the temperatures have a considerable difference, with an average of 13–14 °C (55–57 °F) in the winter and 20–21 °C (68–70 °F) in the summer. The moderate climate of Tenerife is controlled to a great extent by the tradewinds, whose humidity is condensed principally over the north and northeast of the island, creating cloud banks that range between 600 and 1,800 metres (2,000 and 5,900 feet) in height. The cold sea currents of the Canary Islands also have a cooling effect on the coasts and its beaches, while the topography of the landscape plays a role in climatic differences on the island with its many valleys. The moderating effect of the marine air makes extreme heat a rare occurrence and frost an impossibility at sea level. The lowest recorded temperature in downtown Santa Cruz is 8.1 °C (46.6 °F), the coldest month on record still had a relatively mild average temperature of 15.8 °C (60.4 °F).[48] Summer temperatures are highest in August, with an average high of 29 °C (84 °F) in Santa Cruz, similar to those of places as far north as Barcelona and Majorca, because of the greater maritime influence. At a higher elevation in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, the climate transitions to a Mediterranean climate with higher precipitation amounts and lower temperatures year round. The climate of Santa Cruz is very typical of the Canaries, albeit only slightly warmer than the climate of Las Palmas.
Major climatic contrasts on the island are evident, especially during the winter months when it is possible to enjoy the warm sunshine on the coast and experience snow within kilometres, 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level on El Teide.[49] There are also major contrasts at low altitude, where the climate ranges from arid (Köppen BWh) on the southeastern side represented by Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Mediterranean (Csa/Csb) on the northwestern side in Buena Vista del Norte and La Orotava.[50]
The center of the island is characterized by forests because of the much higher precipitation, mostly Canary Island pine forests in the Teide National Park at altitudes from 1,300 to 2,100 metres (4,300 to 6,900 ft).[51] Subtropical cloud forests characterised by laurisilva[52] are commonly found in the Anaga National Park and Monte de Agua in the Teno Rural Park, with altitudes from 600 to 1,000 metres (2,000 to 3,300 ft) and annual averages from 15 to 19 °C (59 to 66 °F) and 600 to 1,200 metres (2,000 to 3,900 ft) in the latter.[53]
The north and south of Tenerife similarly have different climatic characteristics because of the rain shadow effect. The windward northwestern side of the island receives 73 percent of all precipitation on the island, and the relative humidity of the air is superior and the insolation inferior. The pluviometric maximums are registered on the windward side at an average altitude of between 1,000 and 1,200 metres (3,300 and 3,900 feet), almost exclusively in the La Orotava mountain range.[49] Although climatic differences in rainfall and sunshine on the island exist, overall annual precipitation is low and the summer months from May to September are normally completely dry. Rainfall, similarly to that of Southern California, can also be extremely erratic from one year to another.[54]
Tenerife is characterized by a generally dry, warm climate. The island has 2 main different climatic areas (as by Köppen climate classification) yet it actually has 5 different climatic areas.[47] The main climates are the hot semi-arid/arid climate (Köppen: BSh and BWh) and the subtropical Mediterranean Climate (Köppen: Csb and Csa) inland or at higher altitudes. The low altitude/coastal areas of the island have average temperatures of 18–20 °C (64–68 °F) in the winter months and 24–26 °C (75–79 °F) in the summer months. There is a high annual total of days of sunshine, and low precipitation in the coastal areas. The inland/high altitude areas, such as La Laguna, receive much more precipitation and are generally cloudier, as well as the temperatures have a considerable difference, with an average of 13–14 °C (55–57 °F) in the winter and 20–21 °C (68–70 °F) in the summer. The moderate climate of Tenerife is controlled to a great extent by the tradewinds, whose humidity is condensed principally over the north and northeast of the island, creating cloud banks that range between 600 and 1,800 metres (2,000 and 5,900 feet) in height. The cold sea currents of the Canary Islands also have a cooling effect on the coasts and its beaches, while the topography of the landscape plays a role in climatic differences on the island with its many valleys. The moderating effect of the marine air makes extreme heat a rare occurrence and frost an impossibility at sea level. The lowest recorded temperature in downtown Santa Cruz is 8.1 °C (46.6 °F), the coldest month on record still had a relatively mild average temperature of 15.8 °C (60.4 °F).[48] Summer temperatures are highest in August, with an average high of 29 °C (84 °F) in Santa Cruz, similar to those of places as far north as Barcelona and Majorca, because of the greater maritime influence. At a higher elevation in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, the climate transitions to a Mediterranean climate with higher precipitation amounts and lower temperatures year round. The climate of Santa Cruz is very typical of the Canaries, albeit only slightly warmer than the climate of Las Palmas.
Major climatic contrasts on the island are evident, especially during the winter months when it is possible to enjoy the warm sunshine on the coast and experience snow within kilometres, 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level on El Teide.[49] There are also major contrasts at low altitude, where the climate ranges from arid (Köppen BWh) on the southeastern side represented by Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Mediterranean (Csa/Csb) on the northwestern side in Buena Vista del Norte and La Orotava.[50]
The center of the island is characterized by forests because of the much higher precipitation, mostly Canary Island pine forests in the Teide National Park at altitudes from 1,300 to 2,100 metres (4,300 to 6,900 ft).[51] Subtropical cloud forests characterised by laurisilva[52] are commonly found in the Anaga National Park and Monte de Agua in the Teno Rural Park, with altitudes from 600 to 1,000 metres (2,000 to 3,300 ft) and annual averages from 15 to 19 °C (59 to 66 °F) and 600 to 1,200 metres (2,000 to 3,900 ft) in the latter.[53]
The north and south of Tenerife similarly have different climatic characteristics because of the rain shadow effect. The windward northwestern side of the island receives 73 percent of all precipitation on the island, and the relative humidity of the air is superior and the insolation inferior. The pluviometric maximums are registered on the windward side at an average altitude of between 1,000 and 1,200 metres (3,300 and 3,900 feet), almost exclusively in the La Orotava mountain range.[49] Although climatic differences in rainfall and sunshine on the island exist, overall annual precipitation is low and the summer months from May to September are normally completely dry. Rainfall, similarly to that of Southern California, can also be extremely erratic from one year to another.[54]
Only an arse would blame the massive number of fires on 'arsonists' without mentioning the oil&gas industry.
You saying all of these were caused by arsonists?
And is this still using the definition that any accidental fire started by humans is 'arson'?
For all the threads where people are blaming arsonists, why is there not one instance where a satellite image has caught people in the act? With so many satellites (hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands) working 24/7 logic would dictate that something would show up, n'est ce pas? Instead we get a big, fat, 0. Funny that.
Wet bulb temps in Kentucky and elsewhere in the states today.
These new weather patterns and heat domes are nuts.
These new weather patterns and heat domes are nuts.
canada-man
Well-known member
Hawaii’s Governor Tries To Make Tenuous Link Between Climate Change And Maui Fires
During an interview on “Face the Nation,” Democrat Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii discussed the deadly wildfires that destroyed parts of Maui and some of the mistakes officials made regarding the disaster, which he agreed were “amplified” by climate change.
Video recorded from Aug. 8 appears to show a power line in Lahaina emitting sparks, which ignites dry grass, hours before the fire wreaked havoc on the city. [emphasis, links added]
That’s put intense focus on Hawaiian Electric, which knew since at least 2019 that more needed to be done to strengthen its equipment to prevent such a disaster.
But according to the Wall Street Journal, not much happened in the years afterward, with only $245,000 spent on wildfire prevention projects. Instead, the company was focused on renewable energy.
Referring to Hawaiian Electric, host Margaret Brennan wondered if Green knew why the company’s proposal for a rate hike to upgrade the grid didn’t happen and if it possibly contributed to the fire.
“I don’t know personally whether or not the power lines were the primary reason the fire occurred. That’s why I asked for a comprehensive review,” he said.
“We have to ask the question on every level of how any one city, county, state could have done better and the private sector. This is the world that we live in now. In this case, and I’ve seen footage of it from some of the survivors, I’ve seen footage of how it looked during the fire and how things were exploding, and what the fierce winds looked like.
“They were 80 miles per hour gusting and the fire, I’m now told, was as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It just destroyed everything. It’s not to excuse anything else from any company. It’s just to explain what the world should prepare for and I humbly asked all of the cities and states to spend that money now to prevent disasters like we are seeing here.”
“So just to be clear, when you’re talking about global warming, are you saying that climate change amplified the cost of human error?” Brennan wondered.
“Yes, it did,” he responded. “There’s always going to be incredible things that people do to save lives, from the firefighters, from citizens. And there’s always going to be decisions that are made that I’m sure aren’t perfect at the moment. And– but when you have fire that moves more than a mile a minute, and what happened I’m told by some of the survivors, they were at the initial fire.
“It was put out sometime late in the afternoon in Lahaina, and then the firefighters had to go to three other fires that had started because of the conditions. When they left the fire started up again. And then when the storm winds from Dora, which were that strong, swept it out, it just destroyed everything. So, there [are] no excuses to ever be made. But there are finite- there are finite resources sometimes in the moment.”
Author Michael Shellenberger explained that Hawaii’s wildfire problem is similar to California’s – both “failed to invest in wildfire prevention.”
“[J]ust like in California, they have failed to properly manage the forests and the grasslands, [and] keeping the area around the electrical wires clear,” he said. “That was the cause of the fire, not modestly higher temperatures or slightly less rain.”
In addition to the failure to invest in wildfire prevention, a state agency reportedly delayed a request from the West Maui Land Company to divert water to fight the fires – a point Shellenberger also highlighted on X.
Read more at Townhall
Hawaii's Governor Tries To Make Tenuous Link Between Climate Change And Maui Fires - Climate Change Dispatch
During an interview on “Face the Nation,” Democrat Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii discussed the deadly wildfires that destroyed parts of Maui and some of the mistakes officials made regarding the disaster, which he agreed were “amplified” by climate change.
Video recorded from Aug. 8 appears to show a power line in Lahaina emitting sparks, which ignites dry grass, hours before the fire wreaked havoc on the city. [emphasis, links added]
That’s put intense focus on Hawaiian Electric, which knew since at least 2019 that more needed to be done to strengthen its equipment to prevent such a disaster.
But according to the Wall Street Journal, not much happened in the years afterward, with only $245,000 spent on wildfire prevention projects. Instead, the company was focused on renewable energy.
Referring to Hawaiian Electric, host Margaret Brennan wondered if Green knew why the company’s proposal for a rate hike to upgrade the grid didn’t happen and if it possibly contributed to the fire.
“I don’t know personally whether or not the power lines were the primary reason the fire occurred. That’s why I asked for a comprehensive review,” he said.
“We have to ask the question on every level of how any one city, county, state could have done better and the private sector. This is the world that we live in now. In this case, and I’ve seen footage of it from some of the survivors, I’ve seen footage of how it looked during the fire and how things were exploding, and what the fierce winds looked like.
“They were 80 miles per hour gusting and the fire, I’m now told, was as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It just destroyed everything. It’s not to excuse anything else from any company. It’s just to explain what the world should prepare for and I humbly asked all of the cities and states to spend that money now to prevent disasters like we are seeing here.”
“So just to be clear, when you’re talking about global warming, are you saying that climate change amplified the cost of human error?” Brennan wondered.
“Yes, it did,” he responded. “There’s always going to be incredible things that people do to save lives, from the firefighters, from citizens. And there’s always going to be decisions that are made that I’m sure aren’t perfect at the moment. And– but when you have fire that moves more than a mile a minute, and what happened I’m told by some of the survivors, they were at the initial fire.
“It was put out sometime late in the afternoon in Lahaina, and then the firefighters had to go to three other fires that had started because of the conditions. When they left the fire started up again. And then when the storm winds from Dora, which were that strong, swept it out, it just destroyed everything. So, there [are] no excuses to ever be made. But there are finite- there are finite resources sometimes in the moment.”
Author Michael Shellenberger explained that Hawaii’s wildfire problem is similar to California’s – both “failed to invest in wildfire prevention.”
“[J]ust like in California, they have failed to properly manage the forests and the grasslands, [and] keeping the area around the electrical wires clear,” he said. “That was the cause of the fire, not modestly higher temperatures or slightly less rain.”
In addition to the failure to invest in wildfire prevention, a state agency reportedly delayed a request from the West Maui Land Company to divert water to fight the fires – a point Shellenberger also highlighted on X.
Read more at Townhall
Hawaii's Governor Tries To Make Tenuous Link Between Climate Change And Maui Fires - Climate Change Dispatch
Why are there fire bans everywhere for the entire month of April despite wet ground?
grass fires, and last years dead thatch. And they spread stupid fast. Drives me nuts, when I see weekenders, and year round residents alike burning shit in April.
as for that article and a spark that…
Not in slightest bit surprised. An earlier article, mentioned grasses.
grass fires, and last years dead thatch. And they spread stupid fast. Drives me nuts, when I see weekenders, and year round residents alike burning shit in April.
as for that article and a spark that…
Not in slightest bit surprised. An earlier article, mentioned grasses.
Map of wet bulb temps in the US today.
Places where its to hot for humans to survive outside for long.
Places where its to hot for humans to survive outside for long.
Is this the area where people will boil in their own sweat like the one climate lunatic said?
Warming Set the Stage for Canada’s Record Fires, Study Finds
Climate change has made hot, dry and windy conditions like those that fueled this year’s blazes at least twice as common as they would otherwise be.
- Share full article
Wildfire smoke in northern Quebec last month.Credit...Daryann Gauthier/Société de protection des forêt, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Raymond Zhong
Aug. 22, 2023Updated 3:27 p.m. ET
Climate Forward There’s an ongoing crisis — and tons of news. Our newsletter keeps you up to date. Get it in your inbox.
Hot, dry and gusty conditions like those that fed this year’s wildfires in eastern Canada are now at least twice as likely to occur there as they would be in a world that humans hadn’t warmed by burning fossil fuels, a team of researchers said Tuesday, providing a first scientific assessment of climate change’s role in intensifying the country’s fires.
So far this year, fires have ravaged 37 million acres across nearly every Canadian province and territory. That’s more than twice as large as the amount of Canadian land that burned in any other year on record. Tens of thousands of people — including most of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories — have fled their homes. Smoke has turned the air toxic in cities as far south as Atlanta.
Wildfires can be ignited by lightning or human-related causes such as unattended campfires, downed power lines and arson. The way fires spread and grow is shaped by the structure and composition of the forests and landscape. But heat, rain and snow affect how flammable the trees and brush are, which can determine how intensely blazes burn and how tough they are to put out.
In an analysis issued Tuesday, researchers with the World Weather Attribution initiative estimated that eastern Canada now had a 4 to 5 percent chance, in any given year, of experiencing high-fire-risk conditions as severe or worse than this year’s. This likelihood is at least double what it would be in a hypothetical world without human-caused climate change, they said. And the probability will increase as nations blanket the planet with more heat-trapping gases.
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“Fire-weather risks due to climate change are increasing,” said Dorothy Heinrich, a technical adviser at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center who worked on the analysis. “Both mitigation and dedicated adaptation strategies are going to be required to reduce the drivers of risk and decrease its impacts on people’s lives, livelihoods and communities.”
How Canada’s Record Wildfires Got So Bad, So Fast
World Weather Attribution aims to estimate, shortly after a heat wave, flood, drought or other extreme weather event, how human-caused warming has altered the chances that events of such severity will occur. Scientists do this by using computer models of the global climate to compare the real world with a hypothetical one that hasn’t been transformed by decades of greenhouse gas emissions.
Latest News on Climate Change and the Environment
Card 1 of 5
A climate case in the United States. A group of young people in Montana won a landmark lawsuit when a judge ruled that the state’s failure to consider climate change when approving fossil fuel projects was unconstitutional. The decision marks a victory in the expanding fight against government support for oil, gas and coal, the burning of which has rapidly warmed the planet.
Protecting the Amazon. The leaders of eight countries that are home to the Amazon River basin have agreed to work together to conserve the world’s largest rainforest at a groundbreaking meeting in Brazil. The agreement provides a road map to stave off the rampant deforestation that has severely damaged the Amazon and has major implications for Earth’s climate.
Sea pollution. A new study found that there’s less plastic pollution flowing into the ocean from land than scientists previously thought. The full picture, however, is complicated: The amount of plastic in the ocean is still increasing by about 4% every year, and the amount of plastic on the sea surface could double within 20 years, according to the researchers.
Ocean heat. The planet’s average sea surface temperature spiked to a record high in April and the ocean has remained exceptionally warm ever since. In July, widespread marine heat waves drove temperatures back up to near-record highs, with some hot spots nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly 38 Celsius.
Antarctic sea ice. It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, when ice typically forms around Antarctica. But this year, that growth has been stunted, hitting a record low by a wide margin. The sharp drop is alarming scientists and raising concerns about the ice’s vital role in regulating ocean and air temperatures, circulating ocean water and maintaining an important ecosystem.
When researchers with the group examined Australia’s deadly wildfires of late 2019 and early 2020, they calculated that the exceptional warmth and dryness that preceded the blazes was at least 30 percent more likely to occur there than it would be in a world without global warming.
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As is typical for World Weather Attribution, the analysis of Canada’s fires is being made public before being submitted for academic peer review. Most of the group’s research is later published in peer-reviewed journals.
Their latest analysis focused on northern Quebec, where fires in June alone burned nine times as much land as in the previous decade combined. The region’s wetter climate makes it less accustomed to large wildfires than the country’s West.
The researchers looked at the Fire Weather Index, a metric that includes temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation. They estimated that a Quebec fire season with a peak intensity, a rough gauge of how quickly fires can spread, like this year’s was at least twice as common as it would be without global warming. And a fire season with a cumulative severity like this year’s, a potential measure of how much land is burned in total, is seven times as common, they said.
They cautioned that these were conservative estimates. “The real number will be higher, but it’s very difficult to say how much higher,” said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London who also contributed to the analysis.
Have Climate Questions? Get Answers Here.
What’s causing global warming? How can we fix it? This interactive F.A.Q. will tackle your climate questions big and small.
Canada’s fire season isn’t over. More than 1,000 fires were raging there this week, most of them uncontrolled. British Columbia has been under a state of emergency as fires threaten areas near cities including Kelowna and Kamloops.
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In Quebec, many forests where timber was recently harvested may be too young to regenerate after the flames are out, said Victor Danneyrolles, a forest ecologist with joint appointments at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi and the University of Quebec at Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
Dr. Danneyrolles, who wasn’t involved in World Weather Attribution’s analysis, said the group’s findings didn’t surprise him. In a 2021 study, he and several colleagues found that climate fluctuations were the dominant factor behind the amount of land in eastern Canada burned by wildfires between 1850 and 1990. Climate had greater influence, they found, than the region’s populating by settlers of European origin, who burned land to clear it for farming.
Today, rising heat and dryness appear to be altering fire patterns once again, Dr. Danneyrolles said.
“If a year like 2023 becomes something which comes back every 20 years, then the system will be in a completely new era in terms of fires,” he said. “It’s something that hasn’t been observed during the last century, maybe not in the last thousand years.”
Read more about how scientists attribute extreme weather events to climate change.
Some July Heat: ‘Virtually Impossible’ Without Climate Change, Analysis Finds
July 25, 2023
Climate Change Made East Africa’s Drought 100 Times as Likely, Study Says
April 27, 2023
In a First Study of Pakistan’s Floods, Scientists See Climate Change at Work
Sept. 15, 2022
Raymond Zhong is a climate reporter. He joined The Times in 2017 and was part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in public service for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. More about Ray
when will the end of the world be ?Warming Set the Stage for Canada’s Record Fires, Study Finds
Climate change has made hot, dry and windy conditions like those that fueled this year’s blazes at least twice as common as they would otherwise be.
- Share full article
Wildfire smoke in northern Quebec last month.Credit...Daryann Gauthier/Société de protection des forêt, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Raymond Zhong
Aug. 22, 2023Updated 3:27 p.m. ET
Climate Forward There’s an ongoing crisis — and tons of news. Our newsletter keeps you up to date. Get it in your inbox.
Hot, dry and gusty conditions like those that fed this year’s wildfires in eastern Canada are now at least twice as likely to occur there as they would be in a world that humans hadn’t warmed by burning fossil fuels, a team of researchers said Tuesday, providing a first scientific assessment of climate change’s role in intensifying the country’s fires.
So far this year, fires have ravaged 37 million acres across nearly every Canadian province and territory. That’s more than twice as large as the amount of Canadian land that burned in any other year on record. Tens of thousands of people — including most of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories — have fled their homes. Smoke has turned the air toxic in cities as far south as Atlanta.
Wildfires can be ignited by lightning or human-related causes such as unattended campfires, downed power lines and arson. The way fires spread and grow is shaped by the structure and composition of the forests and landscape. But heat, rain and snow affect how flammable the trees and brush are, which can determine how intensely blazes burn and how tough they are to put out.
In an analysis issued Tuesday, researchers with the World Weather Attribution initiative estimated that eastern Canada now had a 4 to 5 percent chance, in any given year, of experiencing high-fire-risk conditions as severe or worse than this year’s. This likelihood is at least double what it would be in a hypothetical world without human-caused climate change, they said. And the probability will increase as nations blanket the planet with more heat-trapping gases.
ADVERTISEMENT
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
“Fire-weather risks due to climate change are increasing,” said Dorothy Heinrich, a technical adviser at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center who worked on the analysis. “Both mitigation and dedicated adaptation strategies are going to be required to reduce the drivers of risk and decrease its impacts on people’s lives, livelihoods and communities.”
How Canada’s Record Wildfires Got So Bad, So Fast
World Weather Attribution aims to estimate, shortly after a heat wave, flood, drought or other extreme weather event, how human-caused warming has altered the chances that events of such severity will occur. Scientists do this by using computer models of the global climate to compare the real world with a hypothetical one that hasn’t been transformed by decades of greenhouse gas emissions.
Latest News on Climate Change and the Environment
Card 1 of 5
A climate case in the United States. A group of young people in Montana won a landmark lawsuit when a judge ruled that the state’s failure to consider climate change when approving fossil fuel projects was unconstitutional. The decision marks a victory in the expanding fight against government support for oil, gas and coal, the burning of which has rapidly warmed the planet.
Protecting the Amazon. The leaders of eight countries that are home to the Amazon River basin have agreed to work together to conserve the world’s largest rainforest at a groundbreaking meeting in Brazil. The agreement provides a road map to stave off the rampant deforestation that has severely damaged the Amazon and has major implications for Earth’s climate.
Sea pollution. A new study found that there’s less plastic pollution flowing into the ocean from land than scientists previously thought. The full picture, however, is complicated: The amount of plastic in the ocean is still increasing by about 4% every year, and the amount of plastic on the sea surface could double within 20 years, according to the researchers.
Ocean heat. The planet’s average sea surface temperature spiked to a record high in April and the ocean has remained exceptionally warm ever since. In July, widespread marine heat waves drove temperatures back up to near-record highs, with some hot spots nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly 38 Celsius.
Antarctic sea ice. It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, when ice typically forms around Antarctica. But this year, that growth has been stunted, hitting a record low by a wide margin. The sharp drop is alarming scientists and raising concerns about the ice’s vital role in regulating ocean and air temperatures, circulating ocean water and maintaining an important ecosystem.
One of the first scientific studies to evaluate humankind’s contribution to a specific weather event examined the devastating 2003 European heat wave. Since then, researchers have studied extreme events of all kinds and expanded their tool kit for attributing them to human-caused changes. World Weather Attribution, formed in 2015, has developed a standardized protocol so such analyses can be completed soon after severe weather hits, while people and policymakers are still discussing how to recover and rebuild.
When researchers with the group examined Australia’s deadly wildfires of late 2019 and early 2020, they calculated that the exceptional warmth and dryness that preceded the blazes was at least 30 percent more likely to occur there than it would be in a world without global warming.
Editors’ Picks
A School Lunch Solution: The Bento Box
An Even Better Way to Eat Eggs
I Made a New Friend. And Then We Argued.
ADVERTISEMENT
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
As is typical for World Weather Attribution, the analysis of Canada’s fires is being made public before being submitted for academic peer review. Most of the group’s research is later published in peer-reviewed journals.
Their latest analysis focused on northern Quebec, where fires in June alone burned nine times as much land as in the previous decade combined. The region’s wetter climate makes it less accustomed to large wildfires than the country’s West.
The researchers looked at the Fire Weather Index, a metric that includes temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation. They estimated that a Quebec fire season with a peak intensity, a rough gauge of how quickly fires can spread, like this year’s was at least twice as common as it would be without global warming. And a fire season with a cumulative severity like this year’s, a potential measure of how much land is burned in total, is seven times as common, they said.
They cautioned that these were conservative estimates. “The real number will be higher, but it’s very difficult to say how much higher,” said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London who also contributed to the analysis.
Have Climate Questions? Get Answers Here.
What’s causing global warming? How can we fix it? This interactive F.A.Q. will tackle your climate questions big and small.
Canada’s fire season isn’t over. More than 1,000 fires were raging there this week, most of them uncontrolled. British Columbia has been under a state of emergency as fires threaten areas near cities including Kelowna and Kamloops.
ADVERTISEMENT
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
In Quebec, many forests where timber was recently harvested may be too young to regenerate after the flames are out, said Victor Danneyrolles, a forest ecologist with joint appointments at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi and the University of Quebec at Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
Dr. Danneyrolles, who wasn’t involved in World Weather Attribution’s analysis, said the group’s findings didn’t surprise him. In a 2021 study, he and several colleagues found that climate fluctuations were the dominant factor behind the amount of land in eastern Canada burned by wildfires between 1850 and 1990. Climate had greater influence, they found, than the region’s populating by settlers of European origin, who burned land to clear it for farming.
Today, rising heat and dryness appear to be altering fire patterns once again, Dr. Danneyrolles said.
“If a year like 2023 becomes something which comes back every 20 years, then the system will be in a completely new era in terms of fires,” he said. “It’s something that hasn’t been observed during the last century, maybe not in the last thousand years.”
Read more about how scientists attribute extreme weather events to climate change.
Some July Heat: ‘Virtually Impossible’ Without Climate Change, Analysis Finds
July 25, 2023
Climate Change Made East Africa’s Drought 100 Times as Likely, Study Says
April 27, 2023
In a First Study of Pakistan’s Floods, Scientists See Climate Change at Work
Sept. 15, 2022
Raymond Zhong is a climate reporter. He joined The Times in 2017 and was part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in public service for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. More about Ray
Trudeau and the Liberals have been growing carbon emission
since they took over in 2016. It is an error not to hold them
accountable for Canada's record wildfire.
