Increasing atmospheric water vapor and higher daily precipitation intensity over northern Eurasia

Increasing daily precipitation intensity is strongly associated with increasing water vapor in the atmosphere over northern Eurasia based on this study of 35 years of daily precipitation, specific humidity, and air temperature observations at 152 stations. The apparently linear relationship is consistent across all four seasons at interannual and longer time scales, and holds after temperature variation have been controlled. The study further reveals that this relationship is accompanied by increases in precipitation totals from heavy events (above the 70th percentile) and decreases in light ones (below the 30th percentile). Results suggest that increased atmospheric water vapor is the direct link to more frequent intense events of precipitation and increased risk of flooding under a warming climate via increasing precipitation intensity.

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