Precipitation Trends: 1900-1988
Global land precipitation has increased during the 20th century, especially at the mid and high latitudes, according to a paper published in the November 1997 issue of the Journal of Climate. The paper, written by scientists Drs. Inez Fung, Anthony Del Genio, and Aiguo Dai, is based on a recalibrated compilation and analysis of data from 1900-1988 and confirms previous speculation that land precipitation is increasing. The new research shows a global land trend of a 2.4 mm per decade increase in annual precipitation amounts. Multiplied by almost nine decades, this means that there is about 22 mm more rain falling now each year than there was at the turn of the century — rainfall as a global mean has risen by slightly more than two percent.
An animated graph showing first precipitation controlled by El Niño and then precipitation trends, both for the period from 1900 to 1988
Video slate image reads "Precipitation Graph".
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
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Animator
- Barbara Summey (Raytheon)
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Scientists
- Aiguo Dai (NCAR)
- Inez Fung (NASA/GSFC GISS)
- Anthony DelGenio (NASA/GSFC GISS)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, January 1, 1998.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 2:00 PM EDT.
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Papers used in this visualization
A. Dai, I. Fung, A. D. DelGenio, Surface observed global land precipitation variations during 1900-1988, J. Climate, 10, 2943-2962, 1997