Members of the international team simulated changes to the start times of monsoon seasons across the globe, with warm colors representing onset delays.
Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a dozen other international research institutions have produced the most elaborate set of projections to date that illustrates possible futures for major monsoon regions.
Multiple regions around the world plan energy production, agricultural practices and other essential economic endeavors based on the annual arrival of monsoons, which entails a seasonal shift in the direction of winds that provides periods of steady rainfall. However, unchecked greenhouse gas emissions could disrupt these traditionally predictable events.
Using RegCM4, the latest version of a popular regional climate model developed by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy, the team ran a series of simulations to project and evaluate changes in nine monsoon regions across five continents.
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