Expert: Heat waves linked to climate change with Canada’s new tool - McGill Newsroom
Expert: Heat waves linked to climate change with Canada’s new tool | Newsroom - McGill University
Expert: Heat waves linked to climate change with Canada’s new tool
The Greater Montreal area is under a heat warning Monday as a warm and humid air mass could lead to a humidex value of 40. Environment and Climate Change Canada recently released the first results from its rapid extreme weather event attribution system, showing that human-caused climate change significantly increased the likelihood of recent heat waves in Quebec, Eastern Ontario, and Atlantic Canada. ( Environment and Climate Change Canada)
Here is an expert from McGill University who can comment on this topic:
Djordje Romanic, Assistant Professor, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
“A heat wave is characterized by air temperatures that exceed historical climate averages. They can span several days to a few weeks, adversely impacting our health, quality of life, the economy, and the environment. They can also contribute to wildfires. This raises the question: Is a particular heat wave a result of natural climate variability or human-induced climate change? Canada’s Extreme Weather Event Attribution system is designed to assess the likelihood of an event being driven by human-caused climate change. But just how accurate is this tool?”
Djordje Romanic is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. His research interests include thunderstorm winds, natural hazard modelling, and applications of atmospheric sciences to wind engineering, sustainability, and resilience.
djordje.romanic [at] mcgill.ca (English)
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.