Tuesday, September 18, 2012

When It Rains, It Pours

When It Rains, It Pours: Intensification of Extreme Tropical Rainfall With Global Warming Modeled

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Extreme precipitation in the tropics comes in many forms: thunderstorm complexes, flood-inducing monsoons and wide-sweeping cyclones like the recent Hurricane Isaac.

Global warming is expected to intensify extreme precipitation, but the rate at which it does so in the tropics has remained unclear. Now an MIT study has given an estimate based on model simulations and observations: With every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature, the study finds, tropical regions will see 10 percent heavier rainfall extremes, with possible impacts for flooding in populous regions.

"The study includes some populous countries that are vulnerable to climate change," says Paul O'Gorman, the Victor P. Starr Career Development Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, "and impacts of changes in rainfall could be important there."

O'Gorman found that, compared to other regions of the world, extreme rainfall in the tropics responds differently to climate change. "It seems rainfall extremes in tropical regions are more sensitive to global warming," O'Gorman says. "We have yet to understand the mechanism for this higher sensitivity."


When It Rains, It Pours

4 comments:

John Calypso said...

We have had just two days in any 24 hour period that it hasn't rained some in the last 5.5 months - on the news they reported we have had the most rain in the last 90 years in Xalapa, Veracruz.

sparks said...

And I just read (without links) that the US has had the warmest summer in recorded history. Diss climate change if you will but this planet is alive

Andres said...

All summer long we've been getting feeder bands from hurricanes and tropical storms from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Eastern Pacific Ocean. We've been getting two - three+ hours of rain per day all summer long. No drought - no signs of global warming with temperatures bouncing between 60 and 75 every 24 hours. All weather phenomena is blamed or explained by global warming. Pure nonsense.

sparks said...

Where are you with those temperatures. We bounce between 75 and 91 almost everyday ... not that it is unusual. All weather ... no, but a trend for sure

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

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