By Xinhua
London : A new scientific study says that the unprecedented downpour in Britain is being caused by climate change.
More intense rainstorms across parts of the northern hemisphere are being generated by man-made global warming, The Independent newspaper reported Monday, quoting the study which links a greenhouse effect which has long been predicted but never before proved.
The new study was carried out in tandem by several national climate research institutes using their supercomputer climate models, including the Hadley Center of the UK Met Office.
The study does not prove that any one event, including the rain of the past few days in Britain, is climate-change related. However it shows that in recent decades rainfall has increased over several areas of the world and link the phenomenon directly, for the first time, to carbon emissions caused by human activities.
The computer models used to predict the future course of global warming all show heavier rainfall, and of course, "extreme rainfall event", as one of its principal consequences, it said.
Lead scientist Peter Stott at the Hadley Center involved in the study specializes in finding "human fingerprints" sometimes referred to as anthropogenic signals on the changing climate, according to the report.
Stott published research last September showing that the climate of central England had warmed by a full degree Celsius in the past 40 years, and that this could be directly linked to human causes. This is the first time that man-made climate change has been identified at such a local level.
Global warming is likely to lead to higher rainfall because a warming atmosphere contains more water vapour and more energy, according to the study.