National Center for Atmospheric Research
National Center for Atmospheric Research is a research center that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
Raindrops grow with turbulence in clouds: New findings could improve weather and climate models
Scientists for decades have attempted to learn more about the complex and mysterious chain of events by which tiny droplets in clouds grow large enough to begin falling toward the ground. Better understanding this process, known as the "rain formation bottleneck," is fundamental to improving computer model simulations of weather and climate and ultimately generating […]
Sea level rise poses particular risk for Asian megacities
New research highlights both natural climate variability, warming temperatures.
Water resources to become less predictable with climate change
Declining snowpack will cause more variability in runoff, streamflow.
Drenching rains to pose greater threat to fire-damaged areas in West
The western United States this century is facing a greatly heightened risk of heavy rains inundating areas that were recently scarred by wildfires, new research warns. Such events can cause significant destruction, including debris flows, mudslides, and flash floods, because the denuded landscape cannot easily contain the drenching moisture. A new study finds that, if […]
Climate change responsible for uneven rates of sea level
The pattern of uneven sea level rise over the last quarter century has been driven in part by human-caused climate change, not just natural variability, according to a new study. The findings suggest that regions of the world where seas have risen at higher than average rates — including the Eastern Seaboard of the United […]
New study finds that the rainiest days get rainier
Currently, half of the world's measured precipitation that falls in a year falls in just 12 days, according to a new analysis of data collected at weather stations across the globe. By century's end, climate models project that this lopsided distribution of rain and snow is likely to become even more skewed, with half of […]