Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

The deadly landslides in Kerala's ecologically fragile Wayanad district were triggered by a heavy burst of rainfall, made 10 per cent heavier by <keyword id="19907392" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change" source="keywords">climate change</keyword>, according to a new rapid attribution study by a global team of scientists. Researchers from India, Sweden, the US and the UK warned that such events will become more common as the climate continues to warm. To measure the impact of human-caused climate change, the scientists from the <keyword id="12008149" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Weather-Attribution" source="Orion">World Weather Attribution</keyword> (WWA) group analysed climate models with high enough resolution to accurately reflect rainfall in the relatively small study area. The models indicated that the intensity of rainfall has increased by 10 per cent due to climate change, they said. The models also predict a further four per cent increase in rainfall intensity if the average <keyword id="21951013" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-temperature" source="keywords">global temperature</keyword> rises by two degrees Celsius compared to the 1850-1900 average. The scientists, however, said there is a "high level of uncertainty" in the model results as the study area is small and mountainous with complex rainfall-climate dynamics. Having said that, the increase in heavy one-day rainfall events aligns with a growing body of scientific evidence on extreme rainfall in a warming world, including in India, and the understanding that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, leading to heavier downpours. According to scientists, the atmosphere's capacity to hold moisture increases by about 7 per cent for every one-degree Celsius rise in global temperature. The Earth's global surface temperature has already increased by around 1.3 degrees Celsius due to the rapidly rising concentration of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane. Scientists say this is the reason behind worsening <keyword id="19912530" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="extreme-weather-events" source="keywords">extreme weather events</keyword>, such as droughts, heat waves and floods worldwide. The WWA scientists said that while the relationship between land cover, land use changes and landslide risk in Wayanad is not fully clear from existing studies, factors, such as quarrying for building materials and a 62 per cent reduction in forest cover may have increased the slopes' susceptibility to landslides during heavy rainfall. Other researchers have also linked the <keyword id="22597176" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Wayanad-landslides" source="keywords">Wayanad landslides</keyword> to a combination of forest cover loss, mining in fragile terrain and prolonged rain followed by heavy precipitation. S Abhilash, the director of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), had earlier told PTI that the warming of the Arabian Sea is leading to the formation of deep cloud systems, resulting in extremely heavy rainfall in Kerala in a short period and increasing the risk of landslides. "Our research found that the southeast Arabian Sea is becoming warmer, causing the atmosphere above Kerala to become thermodynamically unstable. This instability is allowing the formation of deep clouds," he had said. According to the landslide atlas released by ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre last year, 10 out of the top 30 landslide-prone districts in India are in Kerala, with Wayanad ranked at the 13th spot. A study published by Springer in 2021 said all landslide hotspots in Kerala are in the Western Ghats region and are concentrated in Idukki, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Wayanad, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. It said about 59 per cent of total landslides in Kerala have occurred in plantation areas. A 2022 study on depleting forest cover in Wayanad showed that 62 per cent of forests in the district disappeared between 1950 and 2018, while plantation cover rose by around 1,800 per cent.

Wayanad landslides linked to 10% heavier rainfall due to climate change: Study

The terrifying <keyword id="146947" type="General" weightage="70" keywordseo="lightning" source="Orion">lightning</keyword> and thunder phenomenon that <keyword id="6355192" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="lucknow" source="Orion">Lucknow</keyword> witnessed in the wee hours of September 11 is the kind never seen before. Although lightning with thunderstorms are not unusual, the residents of Lucknow faced a harrowing night because of high frequency. The Met officials said there was lightning for 11 and half hours intermittently from 7.40 p.m. to 7.10 a.m. However, the India Meteorological Department (<keyword id="6366970" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="imd" source="Orion">IMD</keyword>) does not have data on the number of lightning strikes between these hours and any previous records. Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at IMD Lucknow, said that movement of cloud mass is comparatively slower during monsoon. "Cyclonic circulations over north-west Madhya Pradesh and the monsoon trough was slightly to the south of its normal position due to which there was abundant moisture supply from Bay of Bengal over the state of Uttar Pradesh in the lower troposphere. "At the same time there was an active western disturbance in the middle troposphere which was interacting with low level easterly due to this synoptic setting up this kind of rainfall activities in Uttar Pradesh," he explained. Noted environmentalist Prof Venkatesh Dutta from the Department of Environmental Science at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, said: "Lightning occurred owing to the fact of intense heating of the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Such type of extreme weather events undoubtedly reflects the impacts of rising atmospheric temperature and climate change. August was the hottest-ever recorded in Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh, and the heat intensified cloud activities." Virendra Singh Yadav, a retired deputy director of the Geological Survey of India, said: "Lucknow and adjoining areas may also experience an increase in the severity and frequency of these incidents in future. Hence, there is a need for prevention, preparedness and to invest in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) which will save lives, livestock, property and infrastructure. It is a wakeup call to us by nature. "Lightning is of three types. The first is thundercloud or intra-cloud lightning. The second is cloud-to-cloud or Inter-cloud lightning and third is cloud-to-ground lightning (CG). The third type of lightning takes a toll on lives and property, and therefore, is of more concern to us. However, inter-cloud and intra-cloud lightning are also dangerous as they may hit aircrafts. "Its peak power and total energy are very high, with the peak power discharge in the order of a 100 million watts per metre of the channel and the peak channel temperature approaching 30,000 degrees Celsius. Peak currents in a lightning discharge range up to hundreds of kilo amperes (kA) with its typical value being 40 kA." Another scientist said: "Owing to global warming, we are observing the increasing number of hot days in a year which, when combined with rain, leads to occurrence of more intense thunderstorms and lightning of greater intensity."

You Searched For "intense rainfall" and got 2 results

Wayanad landslides linked to 10% heavier rainfall due to climate change: Study

PTI

Scientists explain intense lightning phenomenon in Lucknow

IANS

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides