Rising seas, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunami warnings, and floods. Extreme weather events have left a trail of destruction in coastal areas around the planet. But these large-scale phenomena – which are related to ocean warming – have also been observed in various other parts of the Earth. Recently, in Brazil, storms hit the Zona da Mata region in Minas Gerais, causing widespread damage, with dozens dead, missing, and thousands homeless and displaced. Floods swept away houses and inundated streets in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Ubá, in particular. Outside the country, landslides caused by rising seas in Italy and Malta have caused panic among populations. But what explains this sequence of events? And why are they becoming more and more frequent? One of the main factors behind this scenario has already been pointed out by scientists worldwide: global warming. With a warmer Earth, water evaporation increases, which enhances the formation of intense rainfall and storms. This imbalance ends up interfering with the entire climate system, causing extreme events that are difficult to predict. This is explained by Professor Raul Reis Amorim from the Department of Geography at the Institute of Geosciences (IG) at Unicamp.
Editorial Board
Production and reporting: Fábio Gallacci
Video editing: Aguinaldo Matos
Cover: Luis Paulo Silva
Support: Eliane Daré – IG Press Office – Unicamp
General coordination: Patrícia Lauretti
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