Ocean warmed by climate change fed intense rainfall, floods that killed over 1,600 in Asia: Study

A study links climate change to severe rainfall and deadly floods in Asia, highlighting the human toll of recent cyclones.

Sea surface temperatures over the North Indian Ocean were 0.2° Celsius higher than the average over the past three decades, according to the WWA researchers.

Without global warming, the sea surface temperatures would have been about 1° Celsius colder than they were, according to the analysis. The warmer ocean temperatures provided heat and moisture to the storms.

When measuring overall temperatures, the world is currently 1.3° Celsius warmer than global average during pre-industrial times in the 19th century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"When the atmosphere warms, it can hold more moisture. As a result, it rains more in a warmer atmosphere as compared to a world without climate change," said Mariam Zachariah, with the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London and one of the report's authors.

The WWA is a collection of researchers who use peer-reviewed methods to conduct rapid studies examining how extreme weather events are linked to climate change.

"Anytime we decide to do a study, we know what is the procedure that we have to follow," said Zachariah, who added that they review the findings in house and send some of their analysis for peer review, even after an early version is made public.

The speed at which the WWA releases their analysis helps inform the general public about the impacts of climate change, according to Zachariah.