The extreme heat that baked parts of Southeast Asia last month was largely driven by human-induced climate change, according to analysis from a team of scientists.
(Bloomberg) — The extreme heat that baked parts of Southeast Asia last month was largely driven by human-induced climate change, according to analysis from a team of scientists.
Temperatures that soared beyond 40C (104F) from India and Bangladesh to Thailand and Laos were at least 2C hotter than they would have been without climate change, according to researchers associated with the World Weather Attribution initiative. Extreme events like that seen in Asia will become more frequent and severe until overall greenhouse gas emissions are halted, they said.
“Marginalized people are the worst affected,” said Emmanuel Raju, director of Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research at the University of Copenhagen. “Many of them are still recovering from the pandemic, and from past heat waves and cyclones, which leaves them trapped in a vicious cycle.”
The planet has been scorched by eight of the warmest years on record, and the odds are rising for more hot weather and droughts as the global climate shifts toward an El Nino event. High temperatures in Asia last month sparked fires, led to school closures and widespread hospitalizations, the report said.
The analysis looked at the average maximum temperature and heat index for four consecutive days in April, and used climate models and observations to estimate the impact of human activity. The heat index is a measure that combines temperature and humidity and reflects more accurately the impacts of heat waves on the human body, according to the researchers.
The estimated heat index values exceeded the threshold considered as dangerous — 41C — over large parts of the regions studied, the report said. In a few areas, it neared the range of “extremely dangerous” — above 54C — under which the body temperature is difficult to be maintained.
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