"The Earth's wettest regions are likely to get wetter while the most arid will get drier due to warming of the atmosphere caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, according to a new NASA analysis of more than a dozen climate models."
"Scientists ran simulations of 14 different models, starting with CO2 concentrations at about 280 parts per million, which is similar to preindustrial levels but well below the 400 parts per million today. The amount of carbon dioxide was then bumped up by 1 percent per year, an increase that is consistent with a "business as usual" trajectory described by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, NASA says.
You can see a video of a composite of the simulations . Taken as a whole, they show that for every 1 degree Fahrenheit of CO2 warming, heavy rainfall increases by about 4 percent. Total global rainfall remains unchanged because the more frequent occurrence of heavy rainfall in some areas is offset by less frequent moderate rainfall elsewhere, according to the study set for publication in the peer-reviewed Geophysical Research Letters."
Scott Neuman reports for NPR's The Two-Way May 3, 2013.
SEE ALSO:
"Climate Change May Bring Drought To Temperate Areas, Study Says" (Los Angeles Times)
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