Climate change will bring deadly Heat Waves in India even if steps taken to limit: Study

As per a new study, even if global warming is restricted to 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise in the coming decades, the heat waves will become more frequent across South Asia, including major crop-producing regions like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh in India. The researchers informed that the findings vary from those of a related study published in 2017, which projected that lethal heat waves will occur in South Asia towards the end of the twenty-first century.

Heat waves in India will become more frequent: Study

Scientists from the United States' Oak Ridge National Laboratory have warned that a rise in extreme heat events could put workers in danger in major crop-producing states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, as well as coastal regions and cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. According to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, two degrees of warming have increased the population's vulnerability to lethal temperatures nearly threefold relative to recent years.

Moetasim Ashfaq, an author from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US, said, "The future looks bad for South Asia, but the worst can be avoided by containing warming to as low as possible. The need for adaptation over South Asia is today, not in the future. It's not a choice anymore. Even at 1.5 degrees, South Asia will have serious consequences in terms of heat stress. That's why there is a need to radically alter the current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions."

South Asia will face serious consequences in terms of heat stress: Research

Scientists calculated the wet-bulb temperature, which can be experienced by the residents. It was similar to the heat index where it takes both humidity and temperature into account. According to the report, a wet-bulb temperature of 32 degrees Celsius is considered the point at which labour will get in danger, and 35 degrees Celsius is the point at which human survival is no longer possible because the body can no longer cool itself.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world has warmed by 1 degree Celsius since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and will warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2040. The researchers also added that the South Asian countries have little time to adapt because their people are particularly vulnerable to deadly heat-waves, and the region already has very hot and humid summers.

(with inputs from PTI)

Picture Credit: PTI