Some scientists now believe that disturbances in jet streams are behind the forest fires in Canada and the unbearable heat in the United States.
The latter has in some places continued for several months, and around 100 million Americans encountered either extreme heat or poor air quality.
– Norway’s hottest job
Change in air pressure
The jet stream, i.e. a band of air that encircles the northern hemisphere at high altitudes, experiences large pressure differences that help determine the weather conditions in the exposed area.
The development in the jet streams has led to considerable temperatures, and several temperature records are said to have been broken, according to CBS who first mentioned the matter.
The same newspaper claims that several researchers now believe there is even greater reason to assume that the disturbances in the flow are strongly connected to climate change.
The outcome is thus that regions and larger areas are exposed to heat over a longer period of time – which in turn may have led to – and leads to forest fires in Canada and poor air quality in the USA.
Extreme conditions
Some climate scientists in the US are of the opinion that significant changes in jet streams could result in more extreme weather.
Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts, argues that the recent weather patterns fit this theory.
– Climate change pushes heat waves into more extreme territory every year. Such wavy, block-like patterns correspond to what we expect to see in the future, she adds CBS.
However, Francis emphasizes that it is difficult to evaluate whether the recent changes can be linked to global warming.
– Persistent weather patterns
Kai Kornhuber, researcher at Columbia University in climate analyses, believes it is difficult to say whether unusual jet streams can affect the weather to such a large extent.
However, he is certain that global warming can be important for air pressure.
– We see more persistent weather patterns, and the persistence of the jet stream results in a higher heat effect, he says to the same newspaper, and adds:
– If a possible heat wave heats up over land, and the land areas thus experience corresponding heat, it is warm air that causes the atmosphere to swell.
2023-07-01 03:24:32
#Scientists #startled #extreme
