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Raindrop physics important for future tropical slowdown and extreme precipitation

Falling raindrops have an essential but as yet unquantified role in planetary climate change. An approach to quantifying precipitation efficiency establishes that the way raindrops reach the surface plays an important part in persistent uncertainties over future tropical atmospheric circulation and extreme precipitation.

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Fig. 1: Sensitivity of precipitation efficiency to greenhouse warming in CMIP6 models.

References

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This is a summary of: Li, R. L. et al. Precipitation efficiency constraint on climate change. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01400-x (2022).

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Raindrop physics important for future tropical slowdown and extreme precipitation. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 620–621 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01402-9

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