Climate change may lead to bigger atmospheric rivers
By Esprit Smith, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
A NASA-led study shows that climate change is likely to intensify extreme weather events known as atmospheric rivers across most of the globe by the end of this century, while slightly reducing their number.
The new study projects atmospheric rivers will be significantly longer and wider than the ones we observe today, leading to more frequent atmospheric river conditions in affected areas.
The results also show that the frequency of the most intense atmospheric river storms is projected to nearly double.