URL copied Climate change may change rainfall patterns in south India, intensify floods Future climate change will cause an uneven shifting of the tropical rain belt -- a narrow band of heavy precipitation near the Earth's equator -- leading to increased flooding in parts of India, a new study warns. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, examined computer simulations from 27 state-of-the-art climate models, and measured the tropical rain belt's response to a future scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise through the end of the current century. According to the research, a northward shift of the tropical rain belt over eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean could result in "intensified flooding in southern India," and may impact global biodiversity and food security by 2100.