Krishna AchutaRao, a professor at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences, talks about what modern attribution science can say about loss and damage as well as historical responsibility
Until a decade ago, extreme weather events could not be attributed to human activity. But that has changed now. Climatologists can now assess how the frequency and intensity of these events have changed due to human-induced climate change.
Krishna AchutaRao, a professor at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences, talks about what modern attribution science can say about loss and damage as well as historical responsibility, in a discussion with the Center for Science and Environment, an organization in Delhi-based non-profit.
He gives an example of the kind of experiments that can be done to estimate this scientifically. There is nothing new with the heat waves occurring except that they have become more intense, frequent and last longer, AchutaRao said.
Observations over decades as well as climate models can be used to study the frequency and intensity of such events in the current climate and what would happen in a hypothetical situation where the Earth were devoid of human beings. Comparing the two emissions scenarios will tell us how climate change has contributed to the extreme weather events the world is experiencing today.
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