- Cavs get 17th win as Celtics edge T-Wolves and Heat burn in OT
- Asian markets begin week on front foot, bitcoin rally stutters
- IOC chief hopeful Sebastian Coe: 'We run risk of losing women's sport'
- K-pop fans take aim at CD, merchandise waste
- Notre Dame inspired Americans' love and help after fire
- Court hearing as parent-killing Menendez brothers bid for freedom
- Closing arguments coming in US-Google antitrust trial on ad tech
- Galaxy hit Minnesota for six, Orlando end Atlanta run
- Left-wing candidate Orsi wins Uruguay presidential election
- High stakes as Bayern host PSG amid European wobbles
- Australia's most decorated Olympian McKeon retires from swimming
- Far-right candidate surprises in Romania elections, setting up run-off with PM
- Left-wing candidate Orsi projected to win Uruguay election
- UAE arrests three after Israeli rabbi killed
- Five days after Bruins firing, Montgomery named NHL Blues coach
- Orlando beat Atlanta in MLS playoffs to set up Red Bulls clash
- American McNealy takes first PGA title with closing birdie
- Sampaoli beaten on Rennes debut as angry fans disrupt Nantes loss
- Chiefs edge Panthers, Lions rip Colts as Dallas stuns Washington
- Uruguayans vote in tight race for president
- Thailand's Jeeno wins LPGA Tour Championship
- 'Crucial week': make-or-break plastic pollution treaty talks begin
- Israel, Hezbollah in heavy exchanges of fire despite EU ceasefire call
- Amorim predicts Man Utd pain as he faces up to huge task
- Basel backs splashing the cash to host Eurovision
- Petrol industry embraces plastics while navigating energy shift
- Italy Davis Cup winner Sinner 'heartbroken' over doping accusations
- Romania PM fends off far-right challenge in presidential first round
- Japan coach Jones abused by 'some clown' on Twickenham return
- Springbok Du Toit named World Player of the Year for second time
- Iran says will hold nuclear talks with France, Germany, UK on Friday
- Mbappe on target as Real Madrid cruise to Leganes win
- Sampaoli beaten on Rennes debut as fans disrupt Nantes loss
- Israel records 250 launches from Lebanon as Hezbollah targets Tel Aviv, south
- Australia coach Schmidt still positive about Lions after Scotland loss
- Man Utd 'confused' and 'afraid' as Ipswich hold Amorim to debut draw
- Sinner completes year to remember as Italy retain Davis Cup
- Climate finance's 'new era' shows new political realities
- Lukaku keeps Napoli top of Serie A with Roma winner
- Man Utd held by Ipswich in Amorim's first match in charge
- 'Gladiator II', 'Wicked' battle for N. American box office honors
- England thrash Japan 59-14 to snap five-match losing streak
- S.Africa's Breyten Breytenbach, writer and anti-apartheid activist
- Concern as climate talks stalls on fossil fuels pledge
- Breyten Breytenbach, writer who challenged apartheid, dies at 85
- Tuipulotu try helps Scotland end Australia's bid for Grand Slam
- Truce called after 82 killed in Pakistan sectarian clashes
- Salah wants Liverpool to pile on misery for Man City after sinking Saints
- Berrettini takes Italy to brink of Davis Cup defence
- Lille condemn Sampaoli to defeat on Rennes debut
Climate change is slowing heat waves, prolonging misery
Climate change is causing heat waves to slow to a crawl, exposing humans to extreme temperatures for longer than ever before, a study published in Science Advances said Friday.
While previous research has found climate change is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and more intense, the new paper differed by treating heat waves as distinct weather patterns that move along air currents, just as storms do.
For every decade between 1979 to 2020, researchers found heat waves slowed down by an average of five miles (eight kilometers) an hour per day.
"If a heatwave is moving slower, that means heat can stay in a region longer, so that has effects on communities," senior author Wei Zhang of Utah State University told AFP.
The researchers divided the world into three dimensional-grid cells and defined heat waves as a million square kilometer zones where temperatures reached at least the 95th percentile of the local historical maximum temperature. They then measured their movement over time in order to determine how fast the hot air was moving.
They also used climate models to determine what the results would have looked like absent human-caused climate change, and found manmade factors loomed large.
"It's pretty clear to us that a dominant factor here to explain this trend is anthropogenic forcing, the greenhouse gas," said Zhang.
The changes have accelerated in particular since 1997 and in addition to human causes, weakening upper atmospheric air circulation may play a part, the paper said.
The duration of heat waves also increased, from an average of eight days at the start, to 12 days during the last five years of the study period.
"The results suggest that longer-traveling and slower-moving large contiguous heat waves will cause more devastating impacts on natural and societal systems in the future if GHG keep rising, and no effective mitigation measures are taken," the authors wrote.
Zhang said he was worried by the disproportionate impacts on less-developed regions.
"In particular, cities that don't have enough green infrastructure or not many cooling centers for some folks, in particular for the disadvantaged population, will be very dangerous," he warned.
la-ia/mdl
F.Müller--BTB