Heat domes and anticyclones
Present circumstances:
- June of last year was the warmest June on record for the entire world dating back 174 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an organisation that conducts scientific research and enforces environmental laws in the US.
- Globally, the daily average temperature was 17.12 degrees Celsius. The ice sheets in the polar regions and the snow in the high mountains, where surface temperatures are much below 0 degrees Celsius, are included in this measurement of the average temperature across land and ocean.
There are a number of causes for the increase in global temperatures, including:
- Scientists and experts claim that there are several causes for the rise in global temperatures in different parts of the world.
- While the first El Nino in seven years is in part to blame for the extreme heat, continents like North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe have all also suffered extreme heat waves that are either brought on by the building of heat domes or the passage of anticyclones.
- In addition, the problem has gotten worse as a result of historically high sea surface temperatures.
- Another element influencing the current scenario is climate change, which has raised the frequency and severity of extreme weather occurrences including heat waves and widespread flooding.
A deadly trinity of heat domes, anticyclones, and climate change:
- The bulk of the earth is currently experiencing high heat, however the causes differ by location.
- The USA and Algeria experience heat waves brought on by heat domes, but Europe is impacted by the arrival of two back-to-back anticyclones that originated in Africa.
What are heat domes and anticyclones? How could they also produce heat waves?
- An anticyclone, also known as a high-pressure system, is essentially a region of high pressure where air is travelling downhill towards the Earth’s surface.
- As it sinks, air molecules are compressed, raising pressure and warming the atmosphere. Dry, hot weather is the end outcome.
- Because the air in this region dips rather than rises, anticyclones have quiet, gentle winds and very few clouds.
- On the other hand, when a high-pressure area remains over a place for a number of days or weeks, a heat dome forms. It keeps heated air in situ for a long time, much like a pot cover.
- Since the sun works more to heat the air the longer it is enclosed, each day that passes produces warmer conditions.
- Long-lasting heat domes could lead to a deadly heat wave.
- Heat domes and anticyclones are not produced by climate change, but it has contributed to their lengthening and intensification.
Greenhouse gas emissions and their impact:
- As the planet continues to warm as a result of historically unheard-of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, extreme weather events, like those occurring right now, will occur more regularly.
- If the Earth crosses the 1.5 degree Celsius global warming limit by the 2030s, the ecosystem, geology, people, and other living things may also suffer irreparable harm.
The contribution of El Nino to the rise in global temperatures:
- El Nino-related conditions are escalating the already extreme heat worldwide.
- El Nino is a term for a weather trend that describes an unusual warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
Heat waves, the “silent killer”:
- A “wet bulb” is a phenomenon that happens during a heat wave when there are both high temperatures and high humidity levels.
- When sweat from the human body cannot drain and the body temperature is not stabilised, heat stroke, which only happens when the temperature climbs above 40 degrees Celsius, and even death may result.
- Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, experienced a heat wave last month that claimed the lives of more than 60 people there.
The worst-hit countries are:
- According to a recent WMO forecast, the country’s southern, western, and midwestern regions would continue to simmer over the next few days, in part due to exceptionally warm waters in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, which would enhance coastal humidity and hinder evening cooling.
- Meanwhile, a lot of wildfires have broken out in South California as a result of the intense heat.
- Most importantly, on July 16, a rural village in China experienced temperatures of 52 degrees Celsius, shattering the previous record of 50 degrees Celsius from 2015. China, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia continue to be some of the worst-affected countries in Asia.
Conclusion:
- Because the rate of global warming is increasing daily and because access to water, food production, health, and the environment are all important parts of existence that climate change will affect, our world will suffer negative impacts if we don’t take action as soon as possible to stop it.
- Therefore, in order to address the effects of climate change, governments must collaborate and take inclusive action both at the national and global levels.
