An Introductory Overview of Intense Weather Events
An Introductory Overview of Intense Weather Events
This paper provides the analysis and deep examination of the role of media in portraying the intense weather events including ecosystem and human impacts on the conditions. Various scientific reports and news have regarding the intense weather events happening on a global scale have been published. These publications have involved different scholars, media houses, and research organizations such as higher institutions of learning (Barry &Jonathan, 2015; British Ecological Society,2017). Climate is considered to be the most significant in causing influence on the ecosystem globally. Changes that occur in climatic conditions pose various impacts on the ecosystem and human beings. For instance, the occurrence of global warming may end up forcing nonresistant species to migrate to higher elevations or higher latitudes where the temperatures are conducive and support their survival there. Continuous climatic changes have brought about instability in the sea levels. This has resulted intovarious negative impacts such as the intrusion of the salty water into the fresh water system causing the death or relocating of some species. Various intense weather events or climatically changes not only affect species and ecosystems but also affect other human features such as development. Various media houses such as BBC have been running several news stories regarding the impact of the continued changes in the weather conditions have on human beings. For instance, the occurrence of intense weather events through climatic changes may result in negative consequences posed to the weak coast areas by the land development.
Different media journals and news have pointed at the major role played by humans in causing these changes. Continuous developments globally through industrialization and infrastructural development coupled with daily population expulsion have resulted in extreme climatic and weather events such as droughts, and heavy rainfall. These negative climatical consequences pose a major risk or threat to human beings in the society (Science Daily, 2014). This has been experienced through the increasing impacts on communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems across the world. Currently, the global news involves several reports on the extreme climatic or weather events that are occurring on a regular basis. Therefore, all these occurrences have increased the number of questions from both the public and various media houses but the expected climatic changes and their impacts on the ecosystem or human beings (British Ecological Society, 2017). Continuous climatic changes pose threatening effects on the living world such as changes in the ecosystem, people, ecosystem services and biodiversity. This will reduce of the ray of benefits which are provided by the ecosystems and biodiversity to the human beings such as drinking water, fisheries, fertile soils to support the growth of crops, cultural values, climate regulation among others.
Though ecosystem services play a great role in providing jobs, health, economic growth, and human wellbeing. Thecontinuous climatic or weather changes are elusive since they are mostly affected by many external factors. The perturbations on the ecosystems that are as a result of the changes in the climatic or weather conditions have a direct impact on human beings such as reduced water quality and supply, loss of landscapes and iconic species, destructed rhythms of nature among others (Tollefson, 2015). In this case, quantifying the human vulnerability that is as a result of the shifts in the ecosystem services and processes is difficult. For instance, though it is possible to predict the changes in the water flow, it’s more difficult to tell which cities, habitats, and farms that will be affected by the changes. According to BBC News, (2015), it highlights the extreme weather events occurring in South Korea. In this case, the news indicates that people can become less vulnerable than in the past through adoption of the extreme weather conditions. This is due to developments and advances in air conditioning, thermal insulations in their houses and medical technology. BBC News, (2017) describes the continues climatic changes over geological time. The news gives the estimation of the average global temperatures at around 15C in 2017 through various geological reports indicate an increase in the temperatures than the expected.
Investigations on the Causes of Intense Weather Events
Several research studies have been conducted by various individuals, media organizations and research institutions regarding the causes of the extreme weather events globally. The continuous climatic changes have increased on their effects on the ecosystem and human beings as well. However, each intense event has been linked to anthropogenic and natural causes such as internal modes of variability in the climate, large-scale circulation, and effects of aerosol like aerosol marine, volcanic and stratospheric aerosol (European Environmental Agency, 2017 p.364).
Figure shows Extreme Weather Events of prolonged Drought:AMS & NOAA Issue Annual Report, (Atkins, 2016)
The end results of the intense weather events can be mitigated by other factors such as land use and local topography. However, there are a number of mitigations that can be applied in the investigations regarding the causes of the individual extreme events. Basing on the scientific perspective, the studies increase the understanding of why and how the intensity and frequency of extremes have been changing over time. According to Hoffman, (2016), rich biodiversity and health of the ecosystems are vital to the life of humans and other living organs on the planet. However, continuous changes in the climatic systems are negatively impacting the habitats of several living species and these have either to migrate places with more favorable conditions or adapt to the existing situations. Hoffman, (2016) argues that small changes in the temperatures pose much effect on the ecosystems.
The increase in the warmth of the temperatures leads to the significant shift in the geographical location almost to the extent that can no longer support the survival of species in their current locations. Such species will have to follow the climatic conditions that favor them by migrating to the moister and cooler environments usually southwards or uphill in the southern hemisphere. More so, marine species will also be forced to adapt or get used to the ocean warmer temperatures. However, other media reports indicate that the similar migrations are not possible due to the environmental parameters that are not favorable, man-made or geographical barriers and stiff competition from other species found in those places (Gramling,2016). Much evidence suggests that the distribution of some groups of animals like flying birds and foxes much easily respond to the warmer temperatures in some parts of the world such as in Australia. This makes it difficult to differentiate the climatic impacts from other impacts on the habitats (Woodward et al., 2016). In this case, different media reports regarding the extreme weather or climatic events and their impacts on the ecosystem seem to be related and thus much supported by the public opinion as the migration of some living species are evidenced occurring every day.
Figure 2 shows Intense weather events inform of floods(Atkins, 2016)
As human activities increase continuously, such as agriculture, industrial development, and settlement due to increased population growth over a few decades ago. These activities have increased on the encroachment of the natural vegetation such as grassland, heathlands, and forests which have been cleared significantly (Dokken et al., 2016). The extinction of various communities of plants reduces on the habitats which lead to fragmentation thus limiting the ability of migration of many species to new areas with more favorable conditions. Various species such as those on the islands, peninsulas and mountain tops face the similar difficulties in their life. The species with restricted climatic conditions have confined abilities to migrate and they suffer that increasing climatic changes (Jonathan et.al, 2018). Continuous human activities that pose a big threat to the climatic and weather conditions are posing significant physiological threats to a number of species more especially those vulnerable to temperature spikes. On the other hand, Tollefson, (2015) argues about the failure of the attempts to link the intense weather events to the events of global warming since many climatologists look at this as a wrong thing.
According to Handmer et al., (2017), human activities have brought about various changes in the weather and climatic extremes. These have turned out to be the leading stories for most of the media houses across the globe. Continuous changed in the extreme climatic events have become everyone’s concerns since they play a key role in impacting on the ecosystem. Handmer, (2017) &Hume, (2014), argue that the extreme impacts are due to the extreme weather events and these impacts are both categorized under ecological and human systems. Both the two are influenced by the changes in the vulnerability, exposure, and climate.
Various media houses or organizations break stories in their headlines about the global climate/ weather and its focus. Bur, however, continuous changes in the weather or climatic conditions have significant impacts on the human life and entire ecosystem at large. For instance, BBC News, (2017) broke a story where several European countries were issuing their warnings to the people about the expected sours in the weather conditions characterized by the swathes of the continent. In this case, Italy experienced wildfires due to changes in the climate where dozens of cities and towns were left on the health extreme. The heatwaves left some regions experiencing serious drought threats (BBC News, 2017). Continuous changes in the weather and climatic events leads to the changes in the temperature levels where the temperatures tend to be too high. According to World Meteorological Organization, (2018), despite the tremendous efforts to cut dramatically the emissions from the greenhouses, many scientists argue that the negative consequences will continue due to slow despondence of some parts of the climate system such as the large water bodies. more so, it also takes decades to remove completely the greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere (BBC News, 2017; Environmental Protection Agency, 2017).
However, other media reports indicate uncertainty in the future impacts on the extreme weather events on the ecosystem and human beings. Unlike the BBC News of 2017, the expected changes could bring significant changes in the food production and supply, cause shortages in the supply of fresh waters (European Environmental Agency, 2017 p363; Nature.com, 2018). The changes are also expected to increase on the death rates that rise from storms, floods, droughts and heat waves. This is due to the expectation of an increase in the frequency of the climatic changes to the extreme weather events. According to BBC News, (2017)&The National Academies Press, (2016), continuous in the extreme weather events are also expected to cause an increase in the animal and plant extinctions as the habitats are expected to change at a higher rate than the one the species can adapt it. According to the special report from the BBC News on climate change, continuous changes in the climatic conditions increases the world’s exposure to the increases in the cases of malnutrition, waterborne diseases and malaria as warned by the World Health Organization. However, according to the Independent, (2017), the increase in the cases of global warming is expected to cause more pressing impacts such as an increase in the heating due to an increase in gases from the greenhouses (Howard, 2014). Extreme weather events are associated with significant negative effects such as economic lessee due to bad weather situations. For instance, the increased exposure of the economic assets and people has been ranked as the major economic losses brought about by extreme weather and climatically conditions. Various reports such as BBC News indicate that these losses are more likely to affect even the future generations.
Increased science in media reports concerning the concept of global weather changes has several effects on the readers of the journal articles published. The different forms of media reporting may result into inaccurate reporting which causes misconceptions of the facts in science by the readers. Regardless of the specific causes of the extreme weather events, different media reporting on the similar issue may hinder the public’s participation in the policy discussions that regard scientific issues. In most cases, the journalistic reports that are distorted may generate both unwanted fears and false reports. For instance, over exaggeration of the possible negative changes in the weather events may cause fear and panic among the readers and the entire public at large.
Conclusion
According to Alexander, (2017), climate and weather extremes provides decision makers, academicians, nongovernmental organizations, civil society and the international development agencies with the various chances to issue publications on the various research aspects in climate and weather extremes. Several media house have also come out and issued various news journals, articles, and magazines on the ever-changing global weather conditions. This has included the monitoring, assessment of the vulnerability and issuing early warnings about the expected hazardous weather changes (Gabbatiss,2017). The Intense weather events and its related impacts on the ecosystem and on human beings have been increasing due to continued deterioration in the global weather and climatic conditions as indicated in various media reports and research finding on the weather situations. Therefore, this call for the need to increase on the measures to protect the nature such that negative impact imposed on the ecosystem and human beings by the intense weather events are minimized.
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