Quoting the Evironmental Resilience Institute: "The three-year project is part of $8 million in funding announced by the US Department of Energy in August 2022 for Earth and environmental system modeling research. Collaborating institutions on the project include the University of Exeter, the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Distinct weather patterns, such as weather fronts, commonly lead to precipitation events. Researchers believe the combination of two or more patterns, however, can lead to substantially more rainfall than any single weather pattern. It’s also unclear if climate change is increasing the likelihood of such a convergence.
“We know that the combination of these weather patterns happens, but we don’t know how often,” said IU Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Travis O’Brien, the project’s principal investigator. “We don’t necessarily know that they’re always stronger when they happen together—but there have been some cases where their combined force has resulted in really intense events.”
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