Nature Communications study presents extreme precipitation projections over Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria in East Africa is known to be stormy at night, with thousands of fishermen dying each year. A new study investigates the controls on extreme thunderstorms over the lake and projects their future change.
by
Urs Beyerle
Together with colleagues from KU Leuven and NASA, Wim Thiery, Sonia Seneviratne and Edouard Davin show that extreme precipitation increases twice as fast over Lake Victoria compared to surrounding land by the end of the century under RCP8.5. Their findings however also open up the potential for developing satellite-based early warning systems for the region.
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Further information
- Wim Thiery, Edouard L. Davin, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Kristopher Bedka, Stef Lhermitte, and Nicole P.M. van Lipzig, external page Hazardous thunderstorm intensification over Lake Victoria, Nature Communications, 2016. (doi: 10.1038/NCOMMS12786)
- external page Lake Victoria Hazardous Thunderstorm Study Could Improve Climate Forecasts Around U.S. (NASA)
- external page Climate change intensifies night-time storms over Lake Victoria (KU Leuven)