ABSTRACT
In media coverage of the ‘greenhouse effect’ worldwide, the disposition is to dwell on the rises anticipated in air temperature at sea level, together with the accelerating rise in MSL typically seen as their chief concomitant. What too easily gets forgotten is that projections of temperature change, prognostic or historical, are markers for a multifaceted adjustment within the atmosphere, and the most important result will usually be altered rainfall patterns. Until now, most of the commentary about the water shortages looming in, for instance, the Middle East has ignored climate change as a further complication.1
