India is in the middle of a heatwave but turns out that we aren’t the only ones who are going through this crisis alone. We’re all in this together as the whole world is experiencing longer and more frequent heatwaves since the 1950s.
A comprehensive global study analyzed the prolonged periods of excessive heat. The research analysed extreme temperatures at a regional level since the 1950s and found that there was no decrease in heatwaves anywhere on the planet.
The study revealed that changes in heatwaves are not just increasing but rising exponentially due to the human made and driven climate crisis.
Heatwaves have a lot of negative impacts, especially on human health and agriculture. Such extreme temperatures can lead to more frequent and intense wild and forest fires.
The regions where there is a disproportionate distribution of the extreme temperatures will tend to have more negative impacts of climate change.
The author from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes said:
Not only have we seen more and longer heatwaves worldwide over the past 70 years, but this trend has markedly accelerated.
The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, also came up with a new metric — cumulative heat — to reveal how much heat is packed into individual heatwaves and seasons. That number is also rising.
The cumulative heat shows a similar rise where there is a global increase on an average by 1C-4.5C each decade but in some places like the Middle East, and parts of Africa and South America, the trend is up to 10C a decade.
With these figures and data, the frequency of heatwaves and their occurrences seem to be a recurring phenomenon in the near future.