Types of volcanic eruptions

• Between the record-breaking global heat and extreme downpours, it’s hard to ignore that something unusual is going on with the weather in 2023.
• People have been quick to blame climate change – and they’re right, to a point: Human-caused global warming does play the biggest role.
• A recent study determined that the weekslong heat wave in Texas and Mexico that started in June 2023 would have been virtually impossible without it.

How El Niño is involved

• El Niño is a climate phenomenon that occurs every few years when surface water in the tropical Pacific reverses direction and heats up.
• This happened in 2016, the time of the last strong El Niño.
• A weak El Niño also occurred in 2019-2020, contributing to 2020 becoming the world’s second-warmest year.
• El Niño’s opposite, La Niña, involves cooler-than-usual Pacific currents flowing westward, absorbing heat out of the atmosphere, which cools the globe.

Solar fluctuations

• Earth’s temperature increase during a solar maximum, compared with average solar output, is only about 0.09 F (0.05 C), roughly a third of a large El Niño.
• However, unlike the variable and unpredictable El Niño changes, the 11-year solar cycle is comparatively regular, consistent and predictable.
• The last solar cycle hit its minimum in 2020, reducing the effect of the modest 2020 El Niño.

A massive volcanic eruption

• In an unusual twist, the largest volcanic eruption of the 21st century so far, the 2022 eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai is having a warming and not cooling effect.
• The eruption released an unusually small amount of cooling sulfate aerosols but an enormous amount of water vapor.
• Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas, and the eruption may end up warming Earth’s surface by about 0.06 F (0.035 C), according to one estimate.

Underlying it all: Global warming

• All of this comes on top of anthropogenic, or human-caused, global warming.
• Humans have raised global average temperatures by about 2 F (1.1 C) since 1900 by releasing large volumes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
• The warming from greenhouse gases is actually greater than 2 F (1.1 C), but it has been masked by other human factors that have a cooling effect, such as air pollution.

What does this mean for the future?

• According to climate modeling, this would likely mean even more heat waves, forest fires, flash floods and other extreme weather events.
• Unfortunately, climate modeling shows that as temperatures continue to increase, weather events get more extreme.
• Because of the unfortunate timing of several parts of the climate system, it seems that the odds are not in our favor.

• The "Inclusive Insurance in Mexico" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
• In Mexico, the economic contraction, due to the pandemic, has hindered the fight against poverty.
• In 2020, around 9% of the inclusive insurance target population was covered by a microinsurance product.
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• Hiroto Ishida, President of the Honda Foundation, commented, "Precise time measurement is becoming increasingly important in modern society.
• In the spirit of the Honda Prize, Dr. Katori's accomplishment is truly remarkable."
• Dr. Katori invented the optical lattice clock in 2001, which uses atoms trapped in an optical lattice to create an ultra-precise time standard.
• Dr. Katori was chosen for this award in recognition that the limitless possibilities of the technology fit with the idea behind the Honda Prize."

• As protests erupt at Apple's Foxconn production facility in China, the hypocrisy of 'environment, social, governance' (ESG) accounting is exposed, says Friends of Science Society.
• "The current defense du jour of ESG is that it's not a politicized investment strategy but, rather, a simple risk-assessment tool.
• The UN HLEG "Integrity Matters" report, proposing dictatorial mandatory NetZero reporting poses a risk to society , says Friends of Science.
• Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens that is celebrating its 20th year of offering climate science insights.