Washington: According to a study by the U.S. space agency NASA, western half of the United States is at a risk of bigger, longer droughts or 'mega-droughts.'
These 'mega-droughts' are expected to hit the regions before the end of the century as a result of global warming.
The U.S. space agency stated that even if there is a decrease in the greenhouse gas emissions, droughts in those areas will be worse than they are now.
Ben Cook, climate scientist at NASA said in a statement "Our projections for what we are seeing is that, with climate change, many of these types of droughts will likely last for 20, 30, even 40 years."
NASA's calculations are based on the emissions of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that continue on their current course. They generate an 80 percent chance of minimum one drought that could continue for decades.
The study by the U.S. space agency studied the previous dry and wet spells employing tree rings that date back to 1,000 years. Thereafter, they compared them with soil moisture from 17 climate simulations. All the models showed a very dry planet.
Cook further opined that "These droughts really represent events that nobody in the history of the United States has ever had to deal with."
The study has been published in Science Advances.
via Science - Google News http://ift.tt/1vvBe8s
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