GLOBAL WARMING CAUSED FLOODS IN 2000
(Published 18 February 2011)
Just like buses, you wait 11 years for a report and two come along at once. And both claim that the autumn floods of 2000 were caused by greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere by humans.
One of the reports, published this week by Oxford University, says that although the floods could have happened without the greenhouse gasses, computer models suggest the risk of flooding doubled in some cases when the greenhouse gasses were present in the atmosphere.
In a separate study, the Met Office looked at extreme rainfall since 1950, and that also shows that greenhouse gasses are intensifying storms. Using data gathered from Europe, Asia and North America, they say the intensity of extreme precipitation spiked in the last 50 years of the 20th century in the northern hemisphere.
2000 stands as the wettest autumn on record for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many rivers in southern England reached their highest peak for 60 years while the River Ouse in Yorkshire hadn't seen levels as high since the 1600's.
The floods of autumn 2000 damaged nearly 10,000 properties at more than 700 locations, with insured losses estimated at £1.3 billion.
Professor Myles Allen, of Oxford University's Department of Physics and School of Geography and the Environment, said: 'whether or not a flood occurs in any given year is still an 'Act of God' but, with the help of thousands of climateprediction.net volunteers, we are beginning to see how human influence on climate may be starting to load God's dice.'
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