GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Answer: Climate change can affect the intensity and frequency of precipitation. Warmer oceans increase the amount of water that evaporates into the air. When more moisture-laden air moves over land or converges into a storm system, it can produce more intense precipitation-for example, heavier rain and snow storms.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the contiguous United States, annual precipitation has increased at a rate of . 2 inches per decade since 1901, with extreme precipitation events outpacing this trend. The Midwest and Northeast have experienced the strongest increases in heavy precipitation events.

Detailed explanation-3: -Climate change may lead to diminished groundwater recharge in some areas because of reduced precipitation and decreased runoff. Understanding surface water conditions and the factors that alter quantity and quality is an important part of projecting how climate change may impact water resources.

Detailed explanation-4: -Changes in precipitation patterns will impact people and ecosystems by altering the availability of water throughout the year. The predicted impacts of altered precipitation patterns include: Floods and droughts will become more frequent and more severe. Wildfires are expected to become stronger and more common.

Detailed explanation-5: -Climate change may cause ecosystem disturbance, alter water and fire regimes and increase vulnerability to invasion by feral animals, weeds and pathogens. Wet Tropics ecosystems that are already fragmented and disrupted are less able to adapt to any changes wrought by global warming.