NASA models projects extreme rainfall and drought

By on May 9, 2013
Image: Parched ground (Credit: Axel Kristinsson, Wikimedia Commons)


A NASA-led modeling study of carbon dioxide concentrations has provided new evidence that demonstrates a direct correlation between future global warming and extreme increases in rainfall and drought, NASA has announced.

Researchers compared data from 14 climate models that estimated the impact of carbon emissions over 140-year periods. The models project that heavy rainfall will increase globally by 3.9 percent for every degree Fahrenheit that temperatures increase. However, moderate rainfall is expected to decrease globally by 1.4 percent.

The findings showed that increases in global carbon dioxide emissions will cause wet regions of the world, such as the equatorial Pacific Ocean and Asian monsoon regions, to become more saturated, while drier regions, such as those outside of the tropics, to become more arid.

Image: Parched ground (Credit: Axel Kristinsson, Wikimedia Commons)

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