Despite limitations at regional scales, climate models still provide useful information that should be considered by civil engineers and planners making decisions about infrastructure such as dams, power plants, oil refineries and water treatment plants. This is the finding of Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers Shih-Chieh Kao and Auroop Ganguly, authors of "Intensity, duration and frequency of precipitation extremes under 21st century warming scenarios," which is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research ? Atmospheres. The researchers identified intensification of precipitation extremes from models and observations over the last 30 years and applied extensive analytical tools to draw their conclusions. They cautioned, however, that additional research is needed to increase the credibility of climate extremes projections to a much finer local scale.
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