GREENBELT, Md., March 6 (UPI) -- Using a new technique, NASA scientists have confirmed their suspicion that extremely heavy rainfall events are increasing.
With an understanding that the societal effect of increased rainfall is huge, researchers have been wrestling with a key question: Are rain-producing weather events increasing worldwide?
Since two-thirds of the Earth is covered by oceans, estimating oceanic rainfall relies on satellite remote sensing. However, satellite rainfall estimates are known to have large uncertainties.
But National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists have resolved that problem by using a new technique to confirm extremely heavy rainfall is indeed on the rise as suspected.
"This study makes for a very compelling story in solving a science puzzle," said William Lau, chief of NASA's Laboratory for Atmospheres at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Instead of looking at trends in total rain, we look for possible signals in different categories of rain, defined by its intensity. Its changes in the traits that make up total rainfall that are most telling, not necessarily total rainfall itself."
The research appeared in a recent issue of the International Journal of Climatology.
