Dry and wet water catastrophes are both intensifying as the earth warms, according to a research.

The intensity of water-related disasters around the world has increased over the last two decades as global temperatures climbed to record levels, according to new research from NASA scientists. The study found that increasingly frequent, widespread and intense droughts and floods were linked more strongly to higher global temperatures than to naturally changing weather patterns. This suggests these intense events will increase as the climate crisis accelerates. The study comes as California is slammed with its 11th atmospheric river so far this season, bringing torrential rainfall and crushing snow to a region that has been mired in extreme drought. Matthew Rodell, lead author of the study and hydrologist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, looked at 20 years of NASA satellite data from 2002 to 2021, and identified 505 extreme wet events and 551 extreme dry events during this period, with roughly 70% lasting six months or less and about 10% lasting for more than a year.

The scientists found that extreme events grew in intensity and frequency since 2015, likely due to global warming. They ran analyses to rule out other climate indicators, such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and found that the climate change signal was stronger than the other natural indicators. They believe that as the world warms, the greater global intensity of all wet and dry events will increase, making them more frequent, larger and more severe in total.