Record-breaking heatwaves show climate change is already here

In an op-ed for The Straits Times, Prof Benjamin Horton, director of NTU’s EOS, discussed how record high temperatures have been set across much of the world this month (July 2022), as an unusually prolonged and broad heatwave intensifies concerns about the climate emergency.

He explained: “A heat wave is a period of excessively hot weather that occurs when a system of high atmospheric pressure moves into an area. In such a high-pressure system, air from upper levels of our atmosphere is pulled towards the ground, where it becomes compressed and increases in temperature.”

He concluded by adding that: “The small “silver lining” of these heat waves may be the wakeup call that the government need to really focus on reducing greenhouse gases immediately.”