A decade of weather extremes
Dim Coumou and Stefan Rahmstorf
PERSPECTIVE
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 25 MARCH 2012 | DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1452
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, PO Box 60 12 03, D-14412 Potsdam, Germany.
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The ostensibly large number of recent extreme weather events has triggered intensive discussions, both in- and outside the scientific community, on whether they are related to global warming. Here, we review the evidence and argue that for some types of extreme — notably heatwaves, but also precipitation extremes — there is now strong evidence linking specific events or an increase in their numbers to the human influence on climate. For other types of extreme, such as storms, the available evidence is less conclusive, but based on observed trends and basic physical concepts it is nevertheless plausible to expect an increase.
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