Extreme Weather Linked to Giant Waves

Extreme Weather Linked to Giant Waves in Atmosphere

Tanya Lewis, LiveScience Staff Writer Published: Feb 26, 2013, 0:25 PM EST From our partners

NASA

Sratocumulus clouds photographed by the Expedition 34 crew members aboard the International Space Station above the northwestern Pacific Ocean about 460 miles east of northern Honshu, Japan on Jan. 4, 2013.

Extreme weather events have been on the rise in the last few decades, and man-made climate change may be causing them by interfering with global air-flow patterns, according to new research.
The Northern Hemisphere has taken a beating from extreme weather in recent years — the 2003 European heat wave, the 2010 Pakistan flood and the 2011 heat wave in the United States, for example. These events, in a general sense, are the result of the global movement of air.
Giant waves of air in the atmosphere normally even out the climate, by bringing warm air north from the tropics and cold air south from the Arctic. But a new study suggests these colossal waves have gotten stuck in place during extreme weather events.
http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/extreme-weather-atmosphere-waves-20130226