Study confirms connection between human activity and increased rainfall
A study led by Canadian scientists shows that peeps have an effect on precip: “For the first time, climate scientists have clearly detected the human fingerprint on changing global precipitation patterns over the past century,” the team says. Comparing rainfall records from 1925 to 1999 against nearly 100 scenarios generated by 14 computer models, the team found that 50 to 85 percent of rainfall increase at latitudes north of 40 degrees, including Russia, Canada, and northern Europe, was connected to human activity. The study, set to appear in Nature on Thursday, also pinned increased rain in the 30 degrees of latitude south of the equator on fossil-fuel use in the Northern Hemisphere; latitudes up to 30 degrees north of the equator are getting dryer. “Temperature changes we can cope with,” said Francis Zwiers of Environment Canada. “But water changes are much more difficult … That will have economic impacts, and impacts on food production, and could ultimately displace populations.”
