5 Key excerpts on "Climatic Hazards"

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  eBook - ePub

  The Atlas of Environmental Migration

  • Dina Ionesco, Daria Mokhnacheva, François Gemenne(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In parallel, ocean and atmospheric processes such as currents, winds and temperatures determine global and local weather and climate patterns, resulting in a variety of natural meteorological, hydrological and climatological phenomena. Meteorological events include storms, such as cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons in tropical regions, snow or sand storms, or tornadoes in other parts of the world. Changes in precipitation, including seasonal changes such as monsoons, or longer-term gradual changes in rainfall patterns (increased or decreased precipitation), are also part of meteorological processes, Hydrological phenomena are usually sudden, such as floods caused by heavy rains or snow melt, including flash floods caused, for example, by heavy precipitation following periods of drought; coastal storm surges; or wet landslides or mudslides associated with precipitations, Slow-onset hydrological processes include changes in ice cover (melting of glaciers) and sea-level rise.

  Finally, climatological phenomena include sudden-onset extreme cold and hot temperatures (heatwaves, cold snaps, extreme winter conditions), dry spells, or forest and savannah wildfires, which are often human-made, but exacerbated by dry and hot weather; or slow-onset processes such as desertification and prolonged drought.

  In relation to society, these natural events and phenomena may constitute a direct physical threat; they are therefore considered as hazards, defined by UNISDR as 'natural processes or phenomena that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage'. When they result in human, economic or material losses, hazards turn into disasters.

  In addition to natural hazards, people are exposed to human-made hazards, related to human activity: these can include slow-onset processes of environmental and ecosystem degradation such as land degradation through the use of fertilizers, unsustainable agricultural practices or drilling and extractions; as well as air, water or soil pollution and ecosystem degradation related to transport, infrastructure and other development projects. Human activities may also result in sudden-onset disasters, such as nuclear or industrial accidents, flash floods resulting from sudden water release from dams, or landslides associated with construction projects, all of which can have grave effects on communities.

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  eBook - ePub

  Climate Change and Natural Disasters

  Transforming Economies and Policies for a Sustainable Future

  • Vinod Thomas(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The El Niño-Southern Oscillation will remain the dominant mode of yearly variability in the tropical Pacific with global effects. At the same time there is an emerging consensus that the overall frequency of various extreme events will continue to rise due to anthropogenic global warming. The convergence of anthropogenic factors and natural variability in extreme events could be catastrophic. For instance, the increase in moisture availability is likely to intensify El Niño-related precipitation variability on regional scales.

  Exposure

  Exposure is the presence of people, livelihoods, ecosystems, environmental services, resources, infrastructure, and economic, social, and cultural assets in places and settings that could be adversely affected by natural hazards.

  The roughly eighty tropical storms that form every year are from seven cyclone basins: Atlantic, North Indian, Southeast Indian, Southwest Indian, Northeast Pacific, Northwest Pacific, and Southwest Pacific. People living along cyclone tracks and near the coasts of these basins expect these yearly events. Similarly, people living in low-lying coastal areas and floodplains susceptible to monsoon flooding are used to heavy seasonal rains. But more people and industries are now settling in such hazard-prone areas, putting themselves in harm’s way.

  Clearly, a climate-related hazard might not create a disaster if it strikes where there are no communities or economic activity. An intense storm in a sparsely populated area will pose less risk than a moderate storm in a densely populated city.

  Increasing economic damages from tropical cyclones in recent years may be explained by the increasing wealth in locations prone to these cyclones. Some suggest that the value of tropical cyclone losses and damage may double just because of increasing incomes (Mendelsohn et al. 2012).

  Data from the reinsurance industry suggest that societal change in population and wealth is sufficient to explain increasing disaster losses (Mohleji and Pielke 2014). An analysis of twenty-two disaster loss studies suggests that disaster loss trends can be attributed to increases in population and capital (Bouwer 2011). Some argue that this may be especially true for rising urban centers with their increasing populations and the buildup of assets and infrastructure.

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  eBook - ePub

  Applied Climatology

  Principles and Practice

  • Allen Perry, Dr Russell Thompson, Russell Thompson(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Table 23.1 ). For example, wind storms of various types have the capacity to inflict massive loss in a short time. The hydroClimatic Hazards of floods and droughts, which are mainly derived from extremes of rainfall, are also important and floods are usually regarded as the most common of all environmental hazards.

  Figure 23.1 Sensitivity to flood and drought hazards as a function of the variability of rainfall around the mean and the degree of socio-economic tolerance

  Table 23.1 A classification of Climatic Hazards

  Single-elementextremes(common hazards)	Compound-elementevents(primary hazards)
  Temperature	Cyclones – wind + rain
  Precipitation	Blizzards – wind + snow
  Snowfall	Thunderstorms – rain + lightning
  Wind speed	Tornadoes – wind + vortex
  	Glaze storms – rain + frost
  Single-elementextremes(less common hazards)	Secondary hazards(derived from climate elements)
  Lightning	Floods
  Hail	Droughts
  Fog	Wildfires
  	Avalanches
  	Landslides
  	Epidemics

  IMPACT OF ATMOSPHERIC DISASTERS

  The impact of atmospheric disasters on people, communities and countries varies greatly according to the state of economic development and the vulnerability of the population. Generally speaking, climatic extremes claim most lives in the less developed countries (LDCs) and cause the greatest economic losses in the more developed countries (MDCs). In recent years, there has been a trend towards establishing databases of so-called ‘significant’ disasters which reflect the importance of relative, as opposed to absolute, economic losses. For example, the database described by Sapir and Misson (1992) uses the following criteria for individual countries:

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  eBook - ePub

  A Practical Introduction to Homeland Security and Emergency Management

  From Home to Abroad

  • Bruce Oliver Newsome, Jack A. Jarmon(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • CQ Press

    (Publisher)

  6 Natural Risks

  Learning Objectives and Outcomes

  At the end of this chapter, you should be able to understand the definitions, trends, distribution, and returns of

  • Natural hazards and threats in general
  • Climate change in general
  • Weather events in general
  • Droughts and heat waves
  • Storms, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons
  • Tornadoes
  • Floods
  • Geological and geomorphic hazards (such as subsistence)
  • Seismic hazards (mostly earthquakes)
  • Volcanic hazards (such as ejected lava or ash)
  • Fires (both human-caused and wild)
  • Cosmic hazards (such as solar storms and meteors)

  In September 2012, the World Economic Forum surveyed more than 1,000 experts and found them slightly more pessimistic for the next decade of global risks. This shift in opinion arose because persistent economic weakness decreases our ability to tackle environmental challenges. Respondents viewed the failure of climate change adaptation as the environmental risk with the most knock-on effects for the next decade (Howell, 2013).

  In 2013, the World Economic Forum identified the following six natural risks:

  1. Extreme weather events
  2. Natural catastrophes of other kinds
  3. Man-made environmental catastrophes
  4. Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
  5. Water crises
  6. Failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation (World Economic Forum, 2014, p. 13)

  The World Economic Forum asked experts to choose the greatest risks over the next decade from a list of 31. The experts’ top 10 global risks included four natural risks.

  1. Fiscal crises in key economies
  2. Structurally high unemployment/underemployement
  3. Water crises
  4. Severe income disparity
  5. Failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation
  6. Greater incidence of extreme weather events...
  7. Global governance failure
  8. Food crises
  9. Failure of a major financial mechanism/institution
  10. Profound political and social instability (World Economic Forum, 2014, p. 9)

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  eBook - ePub

  Carbon Finance

  The Financial Implications of Climate Change

  • Sonia Labatt, Rodney R. White(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Figure 7.1 ). Within this context, environmental security reflects the ability of societies to withstand environmental asset scarcity, adverse changes, and environment-related tensions or conflicts.

  FIGURE 7.1 Summer sea surface temperatures by ocean basin—5-year moving average

  Source: Webster, P. J., G. Holland, J. Curry, and H-R Chang. 2005. Changes in tropical cyclone number, duration and intensity in a warming environment. Science 309(5742):1844–1846.

  Human health and security impacts attributed to climate variability can be classified into several broad categories:

  • Direct impacts caused by weather extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, and storms.
  • Indirect health consequences due to the effect of changing environmental and ecological patterns on the transmission of disease.
  • Warming effects in the polar regions.
  • Changes in physical climate systems.
  • National security and sovereignty issues.

  The following sections outline the ways in which climate variability can have a significant impact on the health and environmental security of different populations, and discusses the social and economic implications of such changes, depending on geographic region and level of vulnerability.

  DIRECT EFFECT OF EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS

  In 2004, about half of the approximately 650 recorded natural catastrophes were windstorm and severe weather events. Harsh storms with torrential rains and high winds caused extensive damage in the United States, the Caribbean and Japan, creating a costly natural catastrophe year for the insurance industry.

  Scientific studies show evidence of a summer season warming trend in all tropical oceans, which has amounted to an average of 0.5°C since 1970 (Figure 7.1

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