Identification

Title

Broadening the scope of anthropogenic influence in extreme event attribution

Abstract

As extreme event attribution (EEA) matures, explaining the impacts of extreme events has risen to be a key focus for attribution scientists. Studies of this type usually assess the contribution of anthropogenic climate change to observed impacts. Other scientific communities have developed tools to assess how human activities influence impacts of extreme weather events on ecosystems and societies. For example, the disaster risk reduction (DRR) community analyses how the structure of human societies affects exposure, vulnerability, and ultimately the impacts of extreme weather events, with less attention to the role of anthropogenic climate change. In this perspective, we argue that adapting current practice in EEA to also consider other causal factors in attribution of extreme weather impacts would provide richer and more comprehensive insight into the causes of disasters. To this end, we propose a framework for EEA that would generate a more complete picture of human influences on impacts and bridge the gap between the EEA and DRR communities. We provide illustrations for five case studies: the 2021–2022 Kenyan drought; the 2013–2015 marine heatwave in the northeast Pacific; the 2017 forest fires in Portugal; Acqua Alta (flooding) events in Venice and evaluation of the efficiency of the Experimental Electromechanical Module, an ensemble of mobile barriers that can be activated to mitigate the influx of seawater in the city; and California droughts and the Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations system as an adaptation strategy.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7f47tfz

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2024-12-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact