Chris Mooney at The Washington Post writes about a new study from Prof. Kerry Emanuel, which suggests that the extreme rains during Hurricane Harvey were made more likely by climate change, and “such extreme flooding events will only become more frequent as the globe continues to warm.”
New Scientist reporter Michael Le Page writes that a study co-authored by Prof. Kerry Emanuel finds that while in the future hurricanes may be more likely to miss New York City, the city could experience 15-metre storm surges. “The result is peculiar to New York City,” says Emanuel. “Almost everywhere else, including Boston, we see an increase in surge heights and storminess.”
Researchers from MIT’s Urban Risk Lab piloted a free online tool that crowdsources social media posts to map flood conditions during Hurricane Irma, writes Frankie Schembri for NOVA Next. “Residents often have the best information about the situation near them,” explains research scientist Tomas Holderness, “and we now have the network to be able to collect information.”
A new study co-authored by research affiliate Judah Cohen shows that the extreme winters of the past few years can be attributed to the warming Arctic, writes Kendra Pierre-Louis for Popular Science. While most associate warmer temperatures with climate change, “a warming climate sends ripples of change across the entire climate system, which sometimes means some very cold winters.”
UPI reporter Brooks Hays writes that MIT researchers have developed a set of mathematical equations to help identify patterns that can lead to extreme events. “If researchers can anticipate the warning signs of extreme events, mitigation efforts could be instigated sooner, potentially preventing loss of life and property,” Hays explains.
Prof. Kerry Emanuel writes for The Washington Post about how climate change and U.S. disaster policies are threat-multipliers for natural disasters like hurricanes. “The confluence of rising sea levels and stronger and wetter hurricanes with increasing coastal population and unwise government interference in insurance markets portends ever increasing hurricane disasters."
Prof. Kerry Emanuel speaks with Miles O’Brien of the PBS NewsHour about the link between climate change and an increase in extreme storm systems. “What all the models and theories seem to agree on, at least globally, at this point is that the frequency of the very high intensity, Category 3 or 4 or 4 events, should go up,” says Emanuel.
Wired reporter Eric Niiler writes that Prof. Kerry Emanuel has found that the probability of a storm like Hurricane Harvey hitting Texas has increased due to warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico and the lack of high-level winds that normally push such storms out to sea or towards Oklahoma.
Prof. Kerry Emanuel speaks with Washington Post reporter Chris Mooney about how several factors related to climate change, such as sea levels and atmospheric moisture, can help intensify hurricanes like Harvey.
Boston Globe reporter Alex Kingsbury writes that a new study by MIT researchers shows that Indian monsoons have been getting stronger over the past 15 years. Kingsbury explains that the findings, “came as quite a surprise: Since the 1950s, conventional wisdom has been that India was drying up.”
MIT researchers have found that by 2050 climate change could deplete water basins and reduce crop yields, reports The Boston Globe’s Alyssa Meyers. If no action is taken to combat climate change, “numerous basins used to irrigate crops across the country will either start to experience shortages or see existing shortages ‘severely accentuated.’”
Washington Post reporter Ben Guarino writes that a study by research scientist Nick Obradovich provides evidence that rising temperatures caused by climate change could increase the number of nights where people have difficulty sleeping. The researchers found that “increasing temperatures could add six additional restless nights per month per 100 people, and 14 nights by 2099.”
Writing for The Los Angeles Times, Deborah Netburn examines a study by MIT researchers that shows climate change could affect how well people sleep at night. “There are going to be lots and lots of impacts of climate change and this is just another factor in a mosaic of negative factors,” says research scientist Nick Obradovich.
A study by research scientist Nick Obradovich finds that increasing temperatures caused by climate change could impact sleep quality, particularly for the poor and elderly, reports Marlene Cimons for Popular Science. Obradovich explains that the study shows, “ambient temperature can play a role in disrupting sleep but also that climate change might make the situation worse by driving up rates of sleep loss.”
AP reporter Seth Borenstein writes that a study by Media Lab Research Scientist Nick Obradovich shows that as climate change brings about milder winters, people may be more likely to exercise. "It's a small little tiny silver lining amid a series of very bad, very unfortunate events that are likely to occur," says Obradovich.