GEO-6 Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific


Figure 4.3.1: Tropical storm tracks such as these have been moving pole-wards in recent decades, as monitored from multiple Earth observation satellites


Source: NASA 2013


high latitudes. Clearly, there is an emerging shift of extreme climate patterns and related disasters in space and time over the globe, and especially in Asia and the Pacific (AASA 2012), which could be a new normal.


Extreme climate events are exceeding historical records. The number of record-breaking rainfall events increased by 12 per cent globally in the period 1981–2010 compared to the previous 80 years, with the largest rise in Southeast Asia, at 56 per cent. These record-breaking rainfall events are consistent with rising temperatures (Lehmann et al. 2015). Fires in Western Australia, declared a national disaster, burned more than 80 000 hectares in February 2015. In 2013, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea experienced extremely hot summers. Extreme heat waves hit India and


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Pakistan in summer 2015. Studies of these events concluded that human-caused climate change made these heat waves more likely, although tying any particular extreme event to climate change remains problematic. Monsoon-like atmospheric circulation arrived early in June, causing heavy precipitation in northern India of a kind considered a once- in-a-century event. However, analyses of observed and simulated June precipitation indicated that human-caused climate change has increased the likelihood of such events (Kossin et al. 2014).


Changes in settlement patterns, urbanization and socio- economic status in Asia have influenced observed trends in vulnerability and exposure to climate extremes. In many coastal areas, growing urban settlements have also


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