Warmer air can hold more water vapor, which can lead to more intense rainstorms, causing major problems like extreme flooding in coastal communities around the world.īut it doesn’t end there. Climate change intensifies this cycle because as air temperatures increase, more water evaporates into the air. Put simply, water evaporates from the land and sea, which eventually returns to Earth as rain and snow. So how does climate change impact the water cycle? We’ve created an infographic below that illustrates what’s going on, but we’ll describe it here too. Specifically, as global temperatures have steadily increased at their fastest rates in millions of years, it’s directly affected things like water vapor concentrations, clouds, precipitation patterns, and stream flow patterns, which are all related to the water cycle. Because the processes involved are highly dependent on temperature, changes in one have consequences on the other. Science has shown that climate change touches every corner of our planet’s ecosystem, and the water cycle is no exception. But why – and how – is that? Aren't the two contradictory? Climate change increases our risk of both heavy rains and extreme droughts.
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