http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN2334800320070723WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Human activities that spur global warming are largely to blame for changes in rainfall patterns over the last century, climate researchers reported on Monday.
The report was released as record rains caused deadly flooding in Britain and China.
Human-caused climate change has been responsible for higher air temperatures and hotter seas and is widely expected to lead to more droughts, wildfires and floods, but the authors say this is the first study to specifically link it to precipitation changes.
"For the first time, climate scientists have clearly detected the human fingerprint on changing global precipitation patterns over the past century," researchers from Environment Canada said in a statement.
The scientists, writing in the journal Nature, found humans contributed significantly to these changes, which include more rain and snow in northern regions that include Canada, Russia and Europe, drier conditions in the northern tropics and more rainfall in the southern tropics.
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