BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The year 2024 witnessed a number of new records for extreme weather, most prominently characterized by torrential rains and floods that swept across the globe, according to Chinese and foreign meteorologists.
In a paper published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences on Saturday, an international team of scientists led by researchers at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reviewed the most significant extreme weather of 2024, including heavy rainfall, flooding, tropical cyclones and droughts.
The team has conducted an annual review of global climate extremes since 2022. This year, they highlighted extraordinary rainfall and flooding as defining characteristics of 2024.
The researchers reviewed the causes of these events and discussed the challenges of building climate resilience.
"Most extreme events have a large random element, subject to weather fluctuations, while some become more likely when larger-scale drivers, such as El Niño, influence regional weather patterns," said James Risbey, a researcher from Australia's national science agency CSIRO and a co-author of the study.
The researchers pointed out that many extreme rainfall and drought events in 2024 were linked to atmospheric conditions associated with the El Niño during the winter of 2023/24. However, they noted that El Niño does not fully explain individual events.
On top of that, human-induced climate change since the pre-industrial era has often intensified extreme rainfall, tropical cyclones, droughts and their associated impacts, said Zhang Wenxia, a researcher at the IAP.
"This aligns with basic physics. Anthropogenic warming increases atmospheric moisture and evaporative demand, potentially intensifying extreme rainfall and droughts, respectively," said Zhang.
According to the paper, despite advances in understanding extreme weather, challenges persist. A significant issue is the inconsistency between observed long-term trends and climate model simulations of extreme precipitation. This discrepancy may stem from uncertainties in observations, internal climate variability, or limitations in models.
"More accurate attribution of extreme events is expected to inform decision-making, ranging from post-disaster recovery to future preparedness," said Michael Brody, a researcher at George Mason University.
The paper also highlighted the ability to forecast and communicate the risks of extreme weather.
"Some extreme events in 2024, like Hurricane Helene, were well-forecasted, but their impacts were exacerbated by the vulnerability of underprepared communities facing a changing climate," said Wang Zhuo, a researcher at the University of Illinois. ■
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