The Earth’s climate has been changing since the early 20th century, mainly as a result of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere caused by anthropogenic emissions. The current change is well beyond the range of natural variations in the past several millennia and is occurring at a time when the environment is also affected by large scale human activities in numerous other ways.
One visible and often visceral indicator of the current climate change is the occurrence of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, heavy precipitation storms/monsoons, thunderstorms, and extreme temperature variations. These events, in turn, can impact the environment. Timely and focused research can document the impacts of the current climate change and associated extreme weather phenomena. More importantly, this type of research can be valuable to our preparation to mitigate and/or adapt to anticipated climate change.
We encourage the submission of manuscripts of original research and concise reviews of disciplinary and interdisciplinary topics on the observed and/or modelled (or projected) environmental impacts of the current climate change and associated extreme weather events. The impacts include but are not limited to regional meteorology, air quality, atmospheric chemistry, hydrology, ecology, and biology. We also welcome research on social and economic impact, with the understanding that the impact can be evaluated with appropriate scientific measures.
Authors may consider the suggested key themes below when preparing manuscripts:
- Magnitude and geographic extent of significant deviations in temperature and other climate parameters from the pre-industrial climate norm
- Changes in the characteristics (frequency and severity) of extreme weather events from those typical in the pre-industrial era
- Environmental and ecological consequences, both observed and projected, of the climate change and associated extreme weather events
- Impacts of the current climate change and associated extreme weather events on specific aspects (e.g., regional meteorology, air quality, atmospheric chemistry, hydrology, ecology, and biology) of the Earth system.
