14 January 2011

Kudos to ABC News for Doing an Accurate Story On Climate

Posted by Dan Satterfield

Many network news stories I’ve seen on climate change end with an interview of someone who has never published anything in the field repeating an often heard myth. The myth almost always has long ago been shown to totally wrong, so it gets  a new life.

ABC News (U.S. not ABC Australia) aired an excellent, and scientifically accurate piece last night on the flooding around the world over the past 12 months. They discussed it’s relationship to climate change, and rightfully pointed out that while you cannot blame any one event on climate, something strange is happening.

The evidence is overwhelming that warmer temps globally will bring more extreme rainfall events, and the events of the past few months force one to sit up and take notice. For every one degree rise in ocean temperature, the atmosphere can hold around 4% more water vapor, and this will increase rain and snow events.

Most researchers in atmospheric physics and climate are not surprised at what’s happening. As my favorite science quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson goes: “The laws of physics are real, everything else is politics”.

Give it a watch.