Snail shells, a ‘once-in-a-millennium’ storm and what it all means for climate studies in China

Chinese researchers say isotopic changes detected in snail shells are a record of Zhengzhou’s 2021 super rainstorm

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Scientists researching climate change collected snails before a deadly storm hit Zhengzhou in central China in 2021 to study isotope changes. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Published: 6:00am, 6 Aug 2024

Chinese scientists have found signs of a super rainstorm etched in the shells of snails, in an experiment that could help unlock evidence in the fossil record of ancient “tipping points” in the Earth’s environment.

The scientists, led by climate change researchers from the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Xian, conducted the experiment on the shells of four living specimens – two collected in the Zhengzhou area before a devastating rainstorm hit the city in July 2021, and two after the storm had passed.

The storm caused catastrophic losses to life and property in Zhengzhou, at one point dumping a year’s worth of rain on the city in a few days.

The downpours were described as a “once-in-a-millennium” event but that definition was based on data of the past hundred years.

“With the acceleration of global warming, the climate background of extreme weather events is undergoing rapid changes,” the researchers said in a paper published in Science Bulletin last week.

“Whether the … Zhengzhou super rainstorm is a ‘once-in-a-millennium’ disaster or a new more regular event in a warmer world is a pressing question requiring clarification.”