This article was written by Gaye Taylor and published in The Energy Mix on February 15, 2022.
Atmospheric rivers as powerful as the one that devastated British Columbia in November are 60% more likely to occur due to human-induced climate change, a new study concludes.
The 48-hour deluge that the storm delivered to major parts of the province was made 50% more likely by anthropogenic climate change, according to a preprint of the study, co-authored by scientists at Environment and Climate Change Canada and the University of Victoria’s Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium.
Using “a large ensemble of simulations” that integrated “multiple climate drivers,” the researchers estimated that the extreme “stream flow events” experienced in several mountain basins in the province while caught up in the atmospheric river were between two and four times more probable, depending on the basin, due to human induced-climate change.
The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Atmospheric rivers as powerful as the one that devastated British Columbia in November are 60% more likely to occur due to human-induced climate change, a new study concludes.
The 48-hour deluge that the storm delivered to major parts of the province was made 50% more likely by anthropogenic climate change, according to a preprint of the study, co-authored by scientists at Environment and Climate Change Canada and the University of Victoria’s Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium.
Using “a large ensemble of simulations” that integrated “multiple climate drivers,” the researchers estimated that the extreme “stream flow events” experienced in several mountain basins in the province while caught up in the atmospheric river were between two and four times more probable, depending on the basin, due to human induced-climate change.
The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The authors warn that “the probability of such events is expected to increase further in the future, demonstrating the importance of developing increased resiliency to such events here in B.C., and across the world.” November’s atmospheric river and its associated impacts produced an estimated C$450 million in insured losses, a measure that leaves out uninsured impacts as well as immeasurable losses of life, they note.
Read the original article here: https://www.theenergymix.com/2022/02/15/human-induced-climate-change-made-b-c-superstorm-60-more-likely-study-shows/