3 News: What has caused the recent extreme weather?

More than 200 scientists are meeting this week in Wellington to discuss extreme weather events at the Extreme Weather Conference at Te Papa.

The aim is to share information, and try to better understand, extreme weather in Australasia, as well as climate and oceanography.

An excerpt: (read in full here)

“The topics cover many aspects of meteorological and oceanographic research in the Australasian region.

“NIWA’s Chief Scientist, Climate, Dr David Wratt will be speaking on recent developments in climate science.

“He says extreme weather resulting in emergency situations can be expected to become more frequent as a result of expanding settlements, combined with higher temperatures and climate change.

“One of the key issues that will be discussed at the conference is the influence of climate change on the cost of weather-related disasters.”