IPB University Tropical Meteorologist Mentions Triggering Factors for Increased Warming of Earth’s Surface

The phenomenon of increasing earth’s surface temperature in recent years, including throughout 2024, is not only caused by natural factors alone.

IPB University Tropical Meteorologist, Dr Rahmat Hidayat, revealed that the current surface warming is a contribution of anthropogenic factors (human activities) and natural factors of sea surface warming such as El Nino.

“When talking about the increase in surface temperature, it cannot be separated from various factors. One of them is the El Nino event,” said Dr Rahmat.

However, he emphasized that El Nino is not the only cause of the increase in surface temperature.

“The temperature increase is also strongly influenced by greenhouse gas (GRK) emissions, such as carbon dioxide produced from human activities. These gases trap heat, thus inhibiting the release of heat from the earth into the atmosphere,” he explained.

Anthropogenic factors such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation also play a major role in increasing the Earth’s surface temperature. On the other hand, phenomena such as El Nino, which is characterized by rising sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, also contribute to rising surface temperatures.

“The combination of greenhouse gas emissions and ocean warming anomalies due to El Nino is what accelerates the increase in Earth’s surface temperature,” he said.

As the Chief of the Meteorology and Atmospheric Pollution Division of the Department of Geophysics and Meteorology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, IPB University, Dr Rahmat explained how El Nino and La Nina affect extreme weather conditions.

He said that El Nino events often exacerbate droughts in Indonesian regions as wet air masses are lifted and moved to other regions, while La Nina can cause excessive rainfall.

“El Nino causes negative anomalies in rainfall, worsens the dry season, and even results in the spread of forest fires. La Nina, on the other hand, can cause flooding or loss of agricultural land due to too high rainfall intensity,” he said.

Regarding the floods that recently hit a number of areas such as Puncak Bogor to Bekasi, Dr Rahmat assessed that the condition could have been caused by high rainfall. However, it can also be exacerbated by poor land use and land cover.

“Sometimes the rainfall is not too extreme, but the land surface is unable to absorb water due to changes in land use. Many infiltration areas have been converted into commercial or residential areas,” he said.

Answering a question about efforts to reduce the impact of climate change globally, Dr Rahmat mentioned two main approaches, namely adaptation and mitigation.

“Adaptation, for example, is building embankments or building houses higher to avoid flooding. While mitigation can be done by reducing the use of fossil fuels, switching to renewable energy, and limiting deforestation and industrial emissions,” he said.

He also emphasized that emission control is not only the responsibility of the government, but also communities, institutions, and even individuals. “Every small action, if done together, can have a big impact on the earth,” he said. (dr) (IAAS/FMT)