Since 2002, the intensity of extreme events linked to the water cycle has increased, i.e. droughts and floods: the global phenomenon, closely linked to rising temperatures and therefore destined to increase in the future, is documented by data from the Grace and Grace-Fo satellite missions of NASA and the German Space Agency (DLR), published in Nature Water by experts from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland.
Researchers Matthew Rodell and Bailing Li used satellite data to identify extreme events that occurred globally between 2002 and 2021, assessing their extent, duration and severity. Their analysis highlights an excess of events between 2015 and 2021, which by the way were the seven warmest years on record. During this period there were an average of four extreme events per year, against the three per year documented in the previous 13 years.
The intensity assessed on a monthly basis grows in step with the average global temperatures. The most intense episode of the last 20 years concerns the heavy floods that have hit central Africa since 2019, leading to a one-metre rise in Lake Victoria. The three most intense drought events have also occurred in recent years and concern the southwestern part of the United States, southern Europe and southern Brazil.
Source: Ansa
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