O

ct. 27

If carbon dioxide emissions continue at their current pace, by the end of century parts of the Persian Gulf will sometimes be just too hot for the human body to tolerate, a new study says.

How hot? The heat index '€” which combines heat and humidity '€” may hit 165 to 170 degrees (74 to 77 Celsius) for at least six hours, according to numerous computer simulations in the new study. That'€™s so hot that the human body can'€™t get rid of heat. The elderly and ill are hurt most by current heat waves, but the future is expected to be so hot that healthy, fit people would be endangered, health experts say.

'€œYou can go to a wet sauna and put the temperature up to 35 (Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit) or so and you can bear it for a while. Now think of that at an extended exposure'€ of six or more hours, said study co-author Elfatih Eltahir, an MIT environmental engineering professor.

While humans have been around, Earth has not seen that type of prolonged, oppressive combination of heat and humidity, Eltahir said. But with the unique geography and climate of the Persian Gulf and increased warming projected if heat-trapping gas emissions continue to rise at current rates, it will happen every decade or so by the end of the century, according to the study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

This would be the type of heat that would make the deadly heat wave in Europe in 2003 that killed more than 70,000 people '€œlook like a refreshing day or events,'€ said study co-author Jeremy Pal of Loyola Marymount University.

It would still be rare and cities such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha wouldn'€™t quite be uninhabitable, thanks to air conditioning, but for people living and working outside or those with no air conditioning, it would be intolerable, said Eltahir and Pal.

While Mecca won'€™t be quite as hot, the heat will likely still cause many deaths during the annual haj pilgrimage, Eltahir said.

Your comments:

The world is being cooked by human greed. We are all too brainwashed by advertising, consumerism, mass media lies and the entertainment industry to notice that capitalism is actually a kind of war on the biosphere.

Benny

Your environmental types worry about the wrong things.

What you should be concerned about is the complete chaos going on throughout the Middle East and spreading.

The heat of thousands of trees and bog lands burning will pale in comparison to the wars that are coming.

Pray and be a voice for peace.

Deadlygod