The world will be vulnerable to larger swings between flooding and droughts as global temperatures rise, a new study has found.

Highlights

• Climate change is intensifying the world's water cycle (the flows of water through the Earth's atmosphere, across the surface and underground) leading to more extreme wet and dry periods

• "It may seem strange that we could get more extreme dry and wet spells as the climate warms, but this is possible because a warmer atmosphere is a thirstier atmosphere—it can more effectively sap the soil of its moisture in one region and dump this extra water as heavy rainfall in storms and monsoons, increasing the contrast in weather between regions and between different times of the year."

• "It is only with rapid and massive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that we can limit warming and the increasing severity of wet and dry spells. Understanding these changes is vital for planning and managing our water resources, as well as improving predictions of how the water cycle will evolve in a warming world."

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