CLIMATE change may be leading to more rainstorms around the world and a higher level of salinity in saltwater.
Satellite imagery from around the globe is indicating that freshwater is getting fresher while saltwater is getting saltier, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.
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The changes are happening at an increasingly rapid rate which is throwing off the Earth’s natural water cycle.
This is causing concern, experts say, because it can lead to a surge in powerful rainstorms around the planet.
Findings are showing, in particular, that as global temperatures rise, the ocean’s surface may face greater evaporation.
In turn, this will cause the top layer of the sea to grow in salinity, as well as add moisture to the atmosphere.
As a result of the extra moisture in the air, rainfall will increase in certain parts of the world.
The rainfall will also dilute bodies of water to make them less salty, in a process known as “wet-gets-wetter-dry-gets-drier”.
This type of pattern can have great implications on our planet’s environment, leading to drought, powerful storms, flooding, and water shortages.
Furthermore, it may also cause accelerated melting of snow, Science Alert noted.
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“This higher amount of water circulating in the atmosphere could also explain the increase in rainfall that is being detected in some polar areas, where the fact that it is raining instead of snowing is speeding up the melting,” lead study author Estrella Olmedo, who is a mathematician at Barcelona’s Institute of Marine Sciences, said.
The researchers explained that about 85 percent of evaporation and 77 percent of precipitation occurs over the ocean.
“Both processes produce changes in sea surface salinity (SSS) leading to positive (evaporation) and negative (precipitation) anomalies,” the study read.
Study co-author Antonio Turiel from the Institut de Ciències del Mar in Spain added that the atmosphere and the ocean “interact in a stronger way than we imagined, with important consequences for the continental and polar areas”.
The researchers found that for every degree Celsius the Earth warms due to climate change, Earth’s water cycle could amplify by up to 7 percent.
Scientists used both satellite imagery and buoy measurements to gather and corroborate their data.
In the future, the authors recommend that ocean models include satellite salinity data to help determine global changes in evaporation and precipitation.
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