Precipitation Correction Makes Climate Models More Accurate

Researchers at UCLA are looking at precipitation to make climate models more accurate. (Credit: NOAA)

Scientists across the world are constantly working to make climate models more accurate. In one recent example of this, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have improved the modeling of our changing climate by taking a closer look at precipitation.

Most models assume that the amounts of precipitation globally will increase in a climate change future. But, according to the UCLA scientists, these models very likely overestimate the degree to which global precipitation will go up — by about 40 percent.

By accounting for this difference, researchers at the university say that many global climate models will be made more accurate. Knowledge of this over-estimation will also decrease the variability between models by nearly 35 percent.

With greater agreement between models, there can be much more confidence in projections of climate moving forward, the scientists argue. Full results of their work are published in the journal Nature.

Top image: Researchers at UCLA are looking at precipitation to make climate models more accurate. (Credit: NOAA)