Earth ID: 179

Precipitation Trends: 1900-1988

Visualizations by Barbara Summey Released on January 1, 1998

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.

For More Information

http://www.atd.ucar.edu/homes/junhong/nasatoday-dai.html

Visualization Credits

Barbara Summey (Raytheon): Lead Animator
Aiguo Dai (NCAR): Scientist
Inez Fung (NASA/GSFC GISS): Scientist
Anthony DelGenio (NASA/GSFC GISS): Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Science Paper:
A. Dai, I. Fung, A. D. DelGenio, Surface observed global land precipitation variations during 1900-1988, J. Climate, 10, 2943-2962, 1997

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/179

Dates of Data Used:
1900-1988

This item is part of this series:
Precipitation

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
DLESE >> Climatology
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0