From Tel Aviv University, another science press release with “could and may” qualifiers: Climate Change May Lead to Fewer — But More Violent — Thunderstorms
Number of flash floods and forest fires could increase with temperature, says TAU researcher
Researchers are working to identify exactly how a changing climate will impact specific elements of weather, such as clouds, rainfall, and lightning. A Tel Aviv University researcher has predicted that for every one degree Celsius of warming, there will be approximately a 10 percent increase in lightning activity.
This could have negative consequences in the form of flash floods, wild fires, or damage to power lines and other infrastructure, says Prof. Colin Price, Head of the Department of Geophysics, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Tel Aviv University. In an ongoing project to determine the impact of climate change on the world’s lightning and thunderstorm patterns, he and his colleagues have run computer climate models and studied real-life examples of climate change, such as the El Nino cycle in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, to determine how changing weather conditions impact storms.
An increase in lightning activity will have particular impact in areas that become warmer and drier as global warming progresses, including the Mediterranean and the Southern United States, according to the 2007 United Nations report on climate change. This research has been reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research and Atmospheric Research, and has been presented at the International Conference on Lightning Protection.
From the computer screen to the real world
When running their state-of-the-art computer models, Prof. Price and his fellow researchers assess climate conditions in a variety of real environments. First, the models are run with current atmospheric conditions to see how accurately they are able to depict the frequency and severity of thunderstorms and lightning in today’s environment. Then, the researchers input changes to the model atmosphere, including the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (a major cause of global warming) to see how storms are impacted.
To test the lightning activity findings, Prof. Price compared their results with vastly differing real-world climates, such as dry Africa and the wet Amazon, and regions where climate change occurs naturally, such as Indonesia and Southeast Asia, where El Nino causes the air to become warmer and drier. The El Nino phenomenon is an optimal tool for measuring the impact of climate change on storms because the climate oscillates radically between years, while everything else in the environment remains constant.
“During El Nino years, which occur in the Pacific Ocean or Basin, Southeast Asia gets warmer and drier. There are fewer thunderstorms, but we found fifty percent more lightning activity,” says Prof. Price. Typically, he says,we would expect drier conditions to produce less lightning. However, researchers also found that while there were fewer thunderstorms, the ones that did occur were more intense.
Fire and flood warning
An increase in lightning and intense thunderstorms can have severe implications for the environment, says Prof. Price. More frequent and intense wildfires could result in parts of the US, such as the Rockies, in which many fires are started by lightning. A drier environment could also lead fires to spread more widely and quickly, making them more devastating than ever before. These fires would also release far more smoke into the air than before.
Researchers predict fewer but more intense rainstorms in other regions, a change that could result in flash-flooding, says Prof. Price. In Italy and Spain, heavier storms are already causing increased run-off to rivers and the sea, and a lack of water being retained in groundwater and lakes. The same is true in the Middle East, where small periods of intense rain are threatening already scarce water resources.
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I’m not sure why they think this is news, a nearly identical study was done back in 2007 and published in PNAS:
Changes in severe thunderstorm environment frequency during the 21st century caused by anthropogenically enhanced global radiative forcing
Robert J. Trapp , Noah S. Diffenbaugh, Harold E. Brooks, Michael E. Baldwin, Eric D. Robinson , and Jeremy S. Pal
Abstract
Severe thunderstorms comprise an extreme class of deep convective clouds and produce high-impact weather such as destructive surface winds, hail, and tornadoes. This study addresses the question of how severe thunderstorm frequency in the United States might change because of enhanced global radiative forcing associated with elevated greenhouse gas concentrations. We use global climate models and a high-resolution regional climate model to examine the larger-scale (or “environmental”) meteorological conditions that foster severe thunderstorm formation. Across this model suite, we find a net increase during the late 21st century in the number of days in which these severe thunderstorm environmental conditions (NDSEV) occur. Attributed primarily to increases in atmospheric water vapor within the planetary boundary layer, the largest increases in NDSEV are shown during the summer season, in proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastal regions. For example, this analysis suggests a future increase in NDSEV of 100% or more in locations such as Atlanta, GA, and New York, NY. Any direct application of these results to the frequency of actual storms also must consider the storm initiation.
Full PDF here
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I find this most interesting:
Attributed primarily to increases in atmospheric water vapor within the planetary boundary layer, the largest increases in NDSEV are shown during the summer season, in proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastal regions. For example, this analysis suggests a future increase in NDSEV of 100% or more in locations such as Atlanta, GA, and New York, NY. Any direct application of these results to the frequency of actual storms also must consider the storm initiation.
Yes, you must consider the storm initiation. The one thing the Tel Aviv researchers apparently have not taken into account in their GCM’s is urban evapotranspiration increases (due to irrigation), aerosols (dust and other cloud seeding nuclei from the urban area) and the role of UHI and boundary layer surface roughness in helping thunderstorm formation. Such factors have been shown to be a powerful convection assistant:
Urban Aerosol Impacts on Downwind Convective Storms
Susan C. van den Heever and William R. Cotton (2007 BAMS)
The impacts of urban-enhanced aerosol concentrations on convective storm development and precipitation over and downwind of St. Louis, Missouri, are investigated. This is achieved through the use of a cloud-resolving mesoscale model, in which sophisticated land use processes and aerosol microphysics are both incorporated. The results indicate that urban-forced convergence downwind of the city, rather than the presence of greater aerosol concentrations, determines whether storms actually develop in the downwind region. Once convection is initiated, urban-enhanced aerosols can exert a significant effect on the dynamics, microphysics, and precipitation produced by these storms. The model results indicate, however, that the response to urban-enhanced aerosol depends on the background concentrations of aerosols; a weaker response occurs with increasing background aerosol concentrations. The effects of aerosols influence the rate and amount of liquid water and ice produced within these storms, the accumulated surface precipitation, the strength and timing of the updrafts and downdrafts, the longevity of the updrafts, and the strength and influence of the cold pool. Complex, nonlinear relationships and feedbacks between the microphysics and storm dynamics exist, making it difficult to make definitive statements about the effects of urban-enhanced aerosols on downwind precipitation and convection. Because the impacts of urban aerosol on downwind storms decrease with increasing background aerosol concentrations, generalization of these results depends on the unique character of background aerosol for each urban area. For urban centers in coastal areas where background aerosol concentrations may be very low, it is speculated that urban aerosol can have very large influences on convective storm dynamics, microphysics, and precipitation.
and this one:
Simulation of St. Louis, Missouri, Land Use Impacts on Thunderstorms
Christopher M. Rozoff, William R. Cotton, and Jimmy O. Adegoke (JAM 2003)
A storm-resolving version of the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System is executed over St. Louis, Missouri, on 8 June 1999, along with sophisticated boundary conditions, to simulate the urban atmosphere and its role in deep, moist convection. In particular, surface-driven low-level convergence mechanisms are investigated. Sensitivity experiments show that the urban heat island (UHI) plays the largest role in initiating deep, moist convection downwind of the city. Surface convergence is enhanced on the leeward side of the city. Increased momentum drag over the city induces convergence on the windward side of the city, but this convergence is not strong enough to initiate storms. The nonlinear interaction of urban momentum drag and the UHI causes downwind convection to erupt later, because momentum drag over the city regulates the strength of the UHI. In all simulations including a UHI, precipitation totals are enhanced downwind of St. Louis. Topography around St. Louis also affects storm development. There is a large sensitivity of simulated urban-enhanced convection to the details of the urban surface model.
In 2000, Qing Lu Lin and Robert Bornstein, from San Jose State University, used data from meteorological stations set up during the 1996 Summer Olympics and discovered that the urban heat island in Atlanta created frequent thunderstorms. Using the National Weather Service’s newly installed local mesonet to collect data (setup for the purpose of aiding weather forecasts for Olympic athletic events), Lin and Bornstein found that five of nine days of precipitation over Atlanta were caused by the urban heat island effect.
Urban heat islands and summertime convective thunderstorms
in Atlanta: three case studies Lin and Bornstein 2000 (PDF)
Abstract
Data from both 27 sites in the Atlanta mesonet surface meteorological network and eight National Weather Service sites were analyzed for the period from 26 July to 3 August 1996. Analysis of the six precipitation events over the city during the period (each on a di!erent day) showed that its urban heat island (UHI) induced a convergence zone that initiated three of the storms at di!erent times of the day, i.e., 0630, 0845, and 1445 EDT. Previous analysis has shown that New York City (NYC) e!ects summer daytime thunderstorm formation and/or movement. That study found that during nearly calm regional flow conditions, the NYC UHI initiates convective activity. Moving thunderstorms, however, tended to bifurcate and to move around the city, due to its building barrier e!ect. The current Atlanta results thus agree with the NYC results with respect to thunderstorm initiation.
And then there’s this one: (from planning.org)
The urban heat island effect causes the warmer air (including its higher concentrations of moisture and pollutants) to rise more readily than cooler air over non-urban areas (Oke 1987). Consequently, moisture and pollutants are transported into higher levels of the urban atmosphere. Thus, the urban heat island creates a warmer, moister atmosphere over the city. Once lifted, the air will cool and, if enough moisture is available, clouds and precipitation may form.The increased number of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice forming nuclei (IN) from urban pollution further enhances urban precipitation.
See: http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/3rm.html and watch the animations.
It seems to me that local boundary layer conditions have a far greater impact on thunderstorms than a 0.8C per century background warming signal. Further, as cities tend to increase their area, the local effects on thunderstorm formation are likely to increase.
For example, this recent story thanks to Dr. Roger Pielke Sr.
One of the points worth noting is that there were fewer than 20 cities of 1 million or more a century ago, there are 450 today.
It seems that when they ignore important and significant mesoscale urban factors like these in favor of broader GCM models, the Tel Aviv researchers have a clear case of modeled confirmation bias on their hands.
After all, thunderstorms are local events, so shouldn’t they be looking for local factors too?
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“During El Nino years, which occur in the Pacific Ocean or Basin, Southeast Asia gets warmer and drier. There are fewer thunderstorms, but we found fifty percent more lightning activity,” says Prof. Price. Typically, he says,we would expect drier conditions to produce less lightning. However, researchers also found that while there were fewer thunderstorms, the ones that did occur were more intense.
Surely, did they not ask the simple question afterwards, “have we got it right if we got what we didn’t expect to get from drier conditions?”
Models shmodels!
“State-of-the-art computer models”. Virtually anything can happen in virtual reality.
“This could have negative consequences in the form of flash floods, wild fires, or damage to power lines and other infrastructure, says Prof. Colin Price”
Scientists seem really bad at this. Hysteria is not a scientific trait.
“Prof. Price. Typically, he says,we would expect drier conditions to produce less lightning. However, researchers also found that while there were fewer thunderstorms, the ones that did occur were more intense.”
Knowing your subject is a scientific trait,…I thought. Dry thunderstorms are well known, and you should have at least checked Wiki!!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_thunderstorm
Thanks Anthony.
This is what comes out of modeling mostly unknown processes, like the climate.
Speaking of Israel – The urbanization here is so vast that practically all the area from the northern Negev desert up to the northern border is at least partly urbanized.
This means Israel is practically a UHI by itself.
We have at least one researcher here that proved that any rise in temp here can be easily attributed to UHI.
I also showed people time and again how weather stations around the country were engulfed by buildings and roads (thanks to Anthony for the idea to look for it).
As in the US and elsewhere, the facts do not tend to change the minds of the warmists.
What scary thing just happened? Predict more of that. Science!
There has been a lot of it about recently hasn’t there. This is terribly unfair of Professors of all sorts of academic disciplines but thanks to nonsense like the paper in question and the Likes of Mann, Karoly et al, the more I see the title ‘Professor’ in the context of ‘climate science’ the more I just think ‘generalissimo’ in the context of some tin pot, third world dictatorship.
To Mike Seward’s observation about professors, I would like to add that university CAN be a sheltered workshop for those unable to function in the real world. Not all, by any means, for some very intelligent people also populate universities. But anyone who is familiar with universities knows of staff members who are borderline incompetent or worse.
IanM
“Researchers are working to identify exactly how a changing climate will impact specific elements of weather.”
They could identify how, but it might take some time, which may possibly mean that the world could cool a degree or two before they finish.
I thought of WUWT readers this morning while reading a US National Science Foundation financed NRC report related to science education. It threw out all the research known to reflect reality and observed operations. It replaced it with “theory and models that apply to all individuals.”
That theory happens to be a political theory without any support except previous NRC assertions on the point. But it fit the desired parameters. And the desired parameters were premised on what it would take to get grants and power that could then be used to alter reality.
If only temperatures and weather were as easy to alter and ignore as the NSF funding going to alter human behavior. Alter enough mindsets with this bogus science ed and there will be few left to fixate on the holes in the theory and models.
Related. Many of the Western fires were started by dry thunderstorms. Right on cue the New York Times declares global warming the cause and if you don’t believe that you must be an idiot.
“The recent heat wave that has fried much of the country, ruined crops and led to heat-related deaths has again raised the question of whether this and other extreme weather events can be attributed to human-induced climate change. The answer, increasingly, is a qualified yes.”
“History is full of sad stories of humanity’s inability to see the writing on the wall — overplowing that helped produce the Dust Bowl, overfishing that has depopulated the oceans. The heat wave is merely the latest of many weather-related messages that should be easy to read. ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/11/opinion/the-heat-wave-and-global-warming.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
They do the “May and Could” dance in their paper, but lightning has a definite agricultural benefit, from Wikipedia:
Nitrogen fixation is a process by which nitrogen (N2) in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia (NH3).[1] Atmospheric nitrogen or elemental nitrogen (N2) is relatively inert: it does not easily react with other chemicals to form new compounds. Fixation processes free up the nitrogen atoms from their diatomic form (N2) to be used in other ways.
Nitrogen fixation, natural and synthetic, is essential for all forms of life because nitrogen is required to biosynthesize basic building blocks of plants, animals and other life forms, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA and amino acids for proteins. Therefore nitrogen fixation is essential for agriculture and the manufacture of fertilizer. It is also an important process in the manufacture of explosives (e.g. gunpowder, dynamite, TNT, etc.). Nitrogen fixation occurs naturally in the air by means of lightning.[2][3]
So, just like CO2 is essential for plant growth, so is Nitrogen Fixation from lightning..
Just my quick observation.. I guess this shows I actually paid attention in science class in high school, who would have thunk?
MikeH
More “state-of-the-art” wankatronic nonsense from academia. Ho, hum.
This seems to assume that most T-storms are due to tropical severe weather and further that a warmer atmosphere would necessarily lead to a greater occurrence of tropical severe weather.
“anthropogenically enhanced global radiative forcing”
is a fancy mouthful standing in for ‘Satanic Gasses’,
embodying the fallacy that CO2 has a ‘global’ effect,
when all radiation is local.
Then there’s the fallacy that this effect can be called a ‘forcing’
when it is so small (<1 deg C per doubling)
that a better term might be 'suggestion'.
Also, it has yet to be proven that humans made the extra CO2,
since the highest CO2 concentrations are over jungles, not cities.
So the next thing to ask is this: Will El Nino become more frequent under the AGW hypothesis? And if so, why? What does CO2 do to create the atmospheric changes absolutely necessary to produce El Nino’s? So far, that mechanism has not been discovered or even postulated.
Or are they saying that only during natural El Nino events will this be a problem? If they are saying the latter, I don’t think we need to be bunched up in our knickers over this. I believe the natural variation in El Nino heat events will be noisier than the effects of CO2. Indeed, we can already see this. While CO2 continues to increase with metric regularity, El Nino peaks are not increasing in lock step intensity or frequency and are quite noisy in their disregard for CO2 additions to the atmosphere.
Has the ENSO moved closer to neutral and just barely El Nino now?
Breaking news.
A very damaging article was published in Nature …
So much for the faux “Climate is weather” meme going around due to this summers weather in the US.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2171973/Tree-ring-study-proves-climate-WARMER-Roman-Medieval-times-modern-industrial-age.html
[REPLY: WUWT broke that story on July 9th here. -REP]
Seems to be a bad day for “The Team”
Nature website now debunks that our current warming is unprecedented.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2171973/Tree-ring-study-proves-climate-WARMER-Roman-Medieval-times-modern-industrial-age.html
I could have concluded that increased temperature “may” cause more violent thunderstorms without any modeling at all.
In fact, I can also conclude that increased temperature “may” cause fewer violent thunderstorms without any modeling at all.
In fact, the two conclusions aren’t mutually exclusive.
Sorry for the double post .. login issue. Guess I haven’t been here in a while, anyway, at least the conservative media is now picking up the story. Better late than never.
“During El Nino years, which occur in the Pacific Ocean or Basin, Southeast Asia gets warmer and drier. There are fewer thunderstorms, but we found fifty percent more lightning activity,”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Why is it that they pound away at warming=drier? I see this constantly in these types of studies, while the CAGW theory itself relies on positive feedbacks due to warmer=wetter. Can’t have it both ways.
@Patrick Guinness He forgot Oversimplifying and Overactivism which killed the NY Times. Oh wait, that’s a few more months in the future. But my state-of-the-art computer models already predicted it with certainty.
equatorial weather…thunderstorms every afternoon…these idiots should visit florida…lightning capital of the world
Its not a case of either or. local causes? yup. global ( systematic) causes. yup.
contrasting a study which looks at underlying systematic with studies that look at local causes is really comparing apples and oranges.
There is a honest question here: In a world that is warming ( say for example the sun increased ) would we see
1. more thunderstorms
2. the same
3. fewer
and we can ask intensity questions as well. These questions can only be answered by
A) increasing the warmth and comparing
B) simulating.
pretty damn basic.
We could also ask: when Ice covered the world were there more thunderstorms or less thunderstorms? thats a good science question. Does anyone suggest that we answer that question by cooling the globe.. err no. we would all suggest that if you are interested in thunderstorms during an ice covered world.. that you should stick to simulation. It would be too dangerous to cool the world just to test a theory.
rather than have a knee jerk response to “modelling” remember that we often use modelling when it is too dangerous to do the actual experiment. We model planes before we fly them. we model car crashes before we sell cars. we model nuclear power plants before we build them.
None of those models are “experiements.” yet we use them. we rely on them because carrying out the experiments are risky. We are currently carrying out an experiment with C02. a true skeptic would have doubt about the outcome of that experiment. In general, physical theory says this will warm the planet, not cool it. If you want to know how much you have 2 choices
A) keep running the experiment
B) do some simulation and take the answer with a grain of salt.
The only way you would keep running the experiment without doing some simulation is if you firmly believe that C02 can have no effect whatsoever.