Rain consolidation, 1980-2022 (IMAGE)
Caption
Dartmouth researchers used an economic tool called a Gini coefficient that typically measures wealth inequality to gauge how evenly or unevenly precipitation fell each year from 1980-2022. They found that annual rainfall has become more concentrated (blue scale) for most of the world, regardless of whether the local climate is wet or dry. The western United States saw among the highest levels of rain consolidation, with yearly rainfall for the Rocky Mountains becoming 20% more concentrated. Conversely, precipitation in the Arctic, Northern Europe, and Canada became less concentrated (brown scale) as their warming climates result in more snow and rain year-round.
Credit
Corey Lesk and Justin Mankin
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Original content