New study links extreme weather to climate change WASHINGTON
(AFP) - Scientists said on Monday they have identified a
physical mechanism behind the extreme weather that has plagued
many parts of the world in recent years - and that it is tied to
climate change. Since 2010, for example, the United States and
Russia have each suffered scorching heat waves, while Pakistan
saw unprecedented flooding. Scientists from the Potsdam
Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have traced the
events to a disturbance in the air currents in the northern
hemisphere, in a new study out Monday in the US Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences. "An important part of the
global air motion in the mid-latitudes of the Earth normally
takes the form of waves wandering around the planet, oscillating
between the tropical and the Arctic regions," lead author
Vladimir Petoukhov said in a statement.