Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have linked human activities, such as burning of fossil fuels and the heat-trapping from these emissions, to global precipitation changes.
Human activities have been affecting two major climate mechanisms -- thermodynamic changes and changes in atmospheric circulation patterns. These are responsible for making wet regions wetter and dry regions drier as well as pushing storm tracks and subtropical zones toward the poles.
"Both these changes are occurring simultaneously in global precipitation and this behavior cannot be explained by natural variability alone," said lead author Kate Marvel.
Simply accounting for natural variability, such as the El Nino and the La Nina weather patterns, has failed to explain the changes in precipitation patterns, researchers say.
After looking at data from the last 30 years, researchers have concluded that it is very rare for natural fluctuations in climate to lead to the poleward shift and change in precipitation levels observed.
"Most previous work has focused on either thermodynamic or dynamic changes in isolation. By looking at both, we were able to identify a pattern of precipitation change that fits with what is expected from human-caused climate change," Marvel said.
Their findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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