Global average amounts of rainfall are likely to increase, but this will not be true for every area.

South East Asia

In South East Asia, some countries may see increases in water availability, while other areas experience decreases. Climate change may also affect the Southeast Asian monsoon and the seasonal pattern of rainfall.

While there is evidence that the incidence of drought will increase in Southeast Asia, this does not mean that the average annual amount of rainfall will decrease. El Niño and La Niña have a very strong influence on changes in the seasonal patterns of rainfall from year to year. It is not well understood how El Niño and La Niña may be affected by climate change.

References

Arnell, N.W., 2004: Climate change and global water resources: SRES emissions and socio-economic scenarios. Global Environmental Change, 14, 31-52.

Cruz, R.V., H. Harasawa, M. Lal, S. Wu, Y. Anokhin, B. Punsalmaa, Y. Honda, M. Jafari, C. Li and N. Huu Ninh, 2007: Asia. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the

Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P.Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 469-506.

Fung, F., A. Lopez, and M. New, 2011: Water availability in +2ºC and +4ºC worlds. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 369, 99-116.

Sanderson, M.G., D.L. Hemming and R.A. Betts, 2011: Regional temperature and precipitation changes under high-end (≥4 ºC) global warming. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 369, 85-98.