Asking if Cyclone Pam Was Caused by Climate Change Is the Wrong Question, Say Scientists
March 17, 2015
When Cyclone Pam ripped through the South Pacific on Saturday morning, it not only left behind a trail of destruction on the 83-island nation of Vanuatu. In the storm's wake, political leaders around the world have used the event as an opportunity to highlight the need to address climate change and help poor, low-lying nations to adapt to rising seas and more severe weather extremes.
Vanuatu's president Baldwin Lonsdale wasted little time in identifying the culprit behind his country's acute humanitarian disaster, which has left at least 24 people dead and left some islands without freshwater supplies.
"We see the level of sea rise. … The cyclone seasons, the warm, the rain, all this is affected," Lonsdale said. "Yes, climate change is contributing to this.”
Wind speeds during the cyclone reached 186 miles per hour, earning Pam a Category 5 classification — the highest level.
The exact impact of climate change on cyclones in the South Pacific remains uncertain. But scientists say that warming ocean temperatures are likely boosting storm intensity.
"We've really altered the atmosphere, we've altered the radiative balance, I'm sure we've altered these storms," Andrew Dessler, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University, told VICE News. "Is it one mile per hour faster winds or 30 mile per hour faster winds? At present, that's not available.""An individual event is more difficult to ascribe or attribute to climate change, but when you step back and look at the how the probability of these events is changing, that's a much stronger argument," James Kossin, a tropical cyclone specialist with NOAA, told VICE News. "These events are consistent with what we expect with climate change, and the probability of this type of event will likely increase."
https://news.vice.com/article/asking-if-cyclone-pam-was-caused-by-climate-change-is-the-wrong-question-say-scientists
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