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What factors are responsible for the Beijing storm?

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Abstract

The Beijing storm of 21 July attracted public and social attention widely. Recently, some scientists expressed their opinion that urbanization has exacerbated the storm. However, our analysis suggests that while urbanization might have played some role, it is mainly the topographic effect that made the storm intense. Our conclusion is that the Beijing storm of 21 July is generated due to natural climatic factors in a changing climate system. Moreover, we think that the factor that contributes to the tremendous flooding disaster of 21 July is the low standards for mountain torrents control for medium and small rivers in the affected region. Therefore, the mountain torrents disasters control and medium and small rivers harnessing should be the foremost task in China’s water conservancy construction in the future, and effective adaptation strategies should also be developed and implemented to cope with the climate change impacts.

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References

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledged the helpful comments and suggestions given by the editors and anonymous reviewers. The authors also thanked Ms. Feifei Liu for her assistance in the preparation of the manuscript. This project was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41201036, 41271048).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yan-Fang Sang, Zhonggen Wang & Changming Liu

  2. Center for Water Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yan-Fang Sang, Zhonggen Wang & Changming Liu

Authors
  1. Yan-Fang Sang
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  2. Zhonggen Wang
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  3. Changming Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yan-Fang Sang or Zhonggen Wang.

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Sang, YF., Wang, Z. & Liu, C. What factors are responsible for the Beijing storm?. Nat Hazards 65, 2399–2400 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0426-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0426-8

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