America received very little rain in the month of October which has just ended. But droughts no longer require such deficits in some areas, researchers warn us. Global warming is at work…
No fewer than 49 states in the United States and approximately 153 million Americans are currently experiencing drought. An unprecedented situation according to National Integrated Dry Information System. An alert is issued. Especially in the eastern United States where the population is not yet limited in their use, but they are still called to the reserve. In the New York area, for example, such a drought is usually expected every 5 to 10 years. But NOAA experts (National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) note that in addition to the current drought, the region has experienced dry periods in the past year and the year before. This is due to a significant decrease in rainfall.
Especially the temperature which is very high.
According to MeteorologistsMeteorologists From the University of California (United States), if the results are somewhat similar in the west of the country, the reasons are now different. They explain in the review. Advances in sciencethat around 2000, the lack of rainfall became a secondary factor. The matterThe matter drought in the region. The evaporation phenomenon activated by high temperatures associated with anthropogenic global warming is now the main driver.
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The warmer it is, the more water vapor the atmosphere can hold and, preferably, the more precipitation it can receive. But for it to rain, the water molecules must also be able to come together to form droplets and then droplets. However, heat sets the molecules in motion so that condensation becomes difficult. Ultimately, as the planet warms, more water evaporates, but less falls as rain. The result is drier droughts, which are likely to last longer and over larger areas.
According to the researchers, climate change appears to be responsible for 80 percent of the increase in evaporation in the region. During droughts, this number rises to more than 90 percent. As a result, droughts can now occur even in 66 percent of the region without recording an actual rainfall deficit. Before 2000, this was true in only 26 percent of the area.
Drought despite rain.
Projections show that global warming will turn the rare droughts of the past, which occurred once every 1,000 years, into more frequent events. Every 60 years since the middle of our century. And even every 6 years until 2100. “We’re not going to stop it by building big reservoirs, because when the atmosphere warms, it’s going to absorb more moisture everywhere. The only way to avoid that is to stop the temperature from rising, which means we have greenhouses. Emission of gases should be stopped.”Rong Fu, a professor of environmental and marine sciences at the University of California, said in a press release.
