Menu Close

Pakistan floods and Russian fires were linked

Despite being more than 2,400km apart and completely different in nature, two of the biggest natural disasters of 2010 were closely linked.

The Pakistan floods of late July and the persistent Russian bushfires of early August were linked by an abnormal “Rossby wave” – a huge river of air that meanders across the globe in a westerly direction.

Rossby waves are a natural phenomenon but in July 2010 a large-scale, stagnant weather pattern (known as an Omega blocking event) slowed the Rossby wave and prevented the progression of weather systems from west to east.

This blocking effect contributed to both the Russian bushfires and the Pakistan floods.

Read more at NASA

Want to write?

Write an article and join a growing community of more than 180,400 academics and researchers from 4,911 institutions.

Register now