Although some people deny the reality of climate change, science continues to prove its impact on modern weather systems.
Recently, a full body of research indicates that climate change is not only responsible for the record-breaking drought in California, but that it's also causing extreme heat and drought in Australia.
One of these studies done by Stanford University, used computer simulations and statistical information for showing how modern-day levels of greenhouse gases, compared to levels before the industrial revolution, are responsible for California's drought.
The drought in California is one of the worst ever recorded. Because there's been no rain, it has raised the risk of wildfires and air pollution across the state. A water shortage will result in at least $2.2 billion lost in agriculture, along with a loss of more than 17,000 jobs. In fact, the situation is so dire that California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency and declared the whole of California as a natural disaster area.
A region of high atmospheric pressure lying over the Pacific Ocean that refuses to move is a large part of the problem. This pressure diverts storms and rain away from the state.
Stanford scientists wondered if climate change was responsible for this stubborn "blocking ridge." They determined probability of such occurrences and used a computer simulation to model the phenomenon in both modern times and in a period before the industrial revolution.
The scientists discovered that a persistent blocking ridge, like the one creating drought in California, is three times more likely in our present climate than in a pre-industrial one.
"In using these advanced statistical techniques to combine climate observations with model simulations, we've been able to better understand the ongoing drought in California," says Stanford climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh. "This isn't a projection of 100 years in the future. This is an event that is more extreme than any in the observed record, and our research suggests that global warming is playing a role right now."
But California isn't the only area suffering. Down Under, Australia reported its hottest year on record in 2013 when the country received record-breaking heat waves, temperatures and drought.
There, scientists looked over five different Australian studies for determining if this was the cause of climate change. These papers showed that climate change doubled the chance of intense heat waves in the country, made extreme hot temperatures five times more likely, increased drought by seven times and tripled the chance for heatwaves. Most importantly, these studies showed that global warming made the extreme heat of the country 2000 times more likely.
"When it comes to what helped cause our hottest year on record, human-caused climate change is no longer a prime suspect, it is the guilty party," says Dr Markus Donat. "Too often we talk about climate change impacts as if they are far in the future. This research shows they are here, now."
