When can we blame climate change? The tricky science of attribution

Extreme weather events are increasing in many parts of the world, but can we always blame their mounting severity on climate change? Join us for a live YouTube debate, and ask your questions!

In the aftermath of a heatwave, flood or drought, public interest is often intense, but can scientists really pinpoint whether a storm was made worse by climate change, and how can the science of extreme weather event attribution help them to do so?

At 2pm (CET) on 23 March our panel of experts will discuss the role that extreme weather attribution plays in educating the public about the link between climate change and today's weather.

And if global warming isn't involved, then why did the disaster happen?

The expert panel will include:

Dr. Frank Kreienkamp, Head of the Regional Climate Office Potsdam, German weather service DWD

Dr. Sonia Seneviratne, Professor for Land-Climate Dynamics, ETH Zürich

Dr. Sjoukje Philip, Researcher in Climate Change, Climate Change at Dutch weather service KNMI

Dr. Jakob Zscheischler, Group Leader, Department of Computational Hydrosystems, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ

Dr. Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service

Jeremy Wilks, Moderator

Submit a question to our panel using the form below:

An emerging field of climate science, extreme event attribution analyses whether extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts or flash flooding, are caused by climate change. While scientists have been looking at extreme weather events for decades, due to the rigorous nature of scientific peer review, much of the research isn't published in scientific journals until a year after the event.

Developed in 2003, extreme event attribution aims to change this