Drought and extreme heat events slashed cereal harvests in recent decades by 9% to 10% on average in affected countries – and the impact of these weather disasters was greatest in the developed nations of North America, Europe and Australasia, according to a new study.
Gradual melting of winter snow helps feed water to farms, cities and ecosystems across much of the world, but this resource may soon be critically imperiled. In a new study, scientists have identified snow-dependent drainage basins across the northern hemisphere currently serving 2 billion people that run the risk of declining supplies in the coming century. The basins take in large parts of the American West, southern Europe, the Mideast and central Asia. They range from productive U.S. farm land to war-torn regions already in the grip of long-term water shortages.
A study published in Nature Communications suggests that the weather patterns known as El Nino and La Nina could lead to at least a doubling of extreme droughts and floods in California later this century.
Regrowth of trees explains why grasslands in western Africa known as the Sahel have recovered after devastating droughts in the 1970s and 1980s, according to South Dakota State University professor Niall Hanan. “Studies in the past have suggested that the Sahara Desert was marching southward,” noted Niall, but the study refutes this notion. “Our results show the resilience of the Sahel, with much of the area getting greener and responding better to rainfall.”
Droughts and heat waves are happening simultaneously with much greater frequency than in the past, according to research by climate experts at the University of California, Irvine. Their findings appear today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Remote Well Solutions, which produces fully automated, off-grid water pumping systems that allow ranchers to reduce costs related to time, fuel, water and maintenance, is one of 12 companies from around the United States – including three from New Mexico – to be selected for the Village Capital Water US 2015 program. The six-month program aims to support entrepreneurs in addressing global water insecurity issues through technology.
With the ongoing extreme drought in California posing a threat to the state’s levee systems, there is an urgent need to invest in research regarding the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure under extreme climatic events. Mississippi State University Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Farshid Vahedifard and his coauthors warn that current drought conditions pose “a great risk to an already endangered levee system” in a letter published Aug. 21 in Science magazine.
Changing climate conditions have caused dramatic changes in groundwater levels. This study aimed at understanding the changes in soil wetting and drying that occur as snow melts in mountainous, snow-packed regions. The study examined subsurface water content levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. In these regions, soils do not freeze during the winter and remain wet beneath the snowpack.
Plants need water. People need water. Unfortunately, there’s only so much clean water to go around — and so the effort begins to find a solution. One strategy is to use treated wastewater, containing salt leftover from the cleaning process, to water large areas of turf grass. Researchers have found ways to breed salt-tolerant turf that can withstand this irrigation.
As drought continues, and demand grows, researchers like Alex Mayer from Michigan Technological University are looking to new models to improve the Rio Grande region's drought resiliency.
Popular opinion says that tropical storms and hurricanes that make landfall mitigate droughts in the southeastern United States. But that simply isn’t true, according to a Florida State University researcher.
The Millennium Drought in southeastern Australia forced Greater Melbourne, a city of 4.3 million people, to successfully implement innovations that hold critical lessons for water-stressed regions around the world, according to findings by UC Irvine and Australian researchers.
Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: fertility, same-sex marriage, mobile apps, IL tornado, Clinton running for President, violence against women, CA water crisis, medical research
Could desalination be the answer to California’s drought? As parts of the state become drier, scientists are looking at ways to turn seawater into drinkable water.
Drought and overpopulation helped destroy Assyrian Empire, study says. Researchers see parallels with modern Syria and Iraq, and caution other regions also facing weather stresses.
Hot, dry conditions can wreak havoc on a field of soybeans. Assistant professor Jai Rohila of the South Dakota State University Biology and Microbiology Department is uncovering the molecular mechanisms that lead to drought and heat tolerance. This will help breeders develop soybean varieties that can survive heat and drought. To do this, he is working with University of Minnesota soybean breeder Jim Orf, who provided Rohila with two varieties of soybeans, one that has greater tolerance to hot, dry conditions, and another that is susceptible.
It is possible to significantly reduce water scarcity in just over 35 years, according to researchers from McGill University and Utrecht University. They outline strategies in six key areas that they believe can be combined in different ways in different parts of the world to effectively reduce water stress by 2050.
Due to global warming, scientists say, the chances of the southwestern United States experiencing a decade long drought is at least 50 percent, and the chances of a “megadrought” – one that lasts over 30 years – ranges from 20 to 50 percent over the next century.
Epidemiological data integrated with climate data estimated from tree-ring measurements indicate that drought contributed to the spread of epidemic typhus in Mexico during the pre-modern era (1655 to 1918).
The worst drought ever to hit California could rival the historic 2011 drought that devastated Texas, says a Texas A&M University professor.
Researchers have discovered that vultures, rather than aggregating where animals are most abundant as previously thought, instead focus on areas and conditions where animals are most likely to die.
Although many U.S. consumers were alarmed to see news reports this summer of droughts leaving shriveled crops dying in the fields, John Stanton, Ph.D., professor of food marketing at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, warns other factors will have a greater effect on Americans’ wallets. “Price increases from the droughts are likely to have short-term effects, but global issues can have a longer and greater impact,” Stanton explains, citing increasing demand from the rest of the world for crops like corn.
Study finds grasslands should come out as the winner with increased periods and intensity of drought predicted in the future.
New data released by the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University shows the Northeast’s seven-month average (January through July) of 49.9 degrees was the warmest such period since 1895, the year such record keeping began.
The simple model of how plants handle climate change doesn't always explain what's going on.
Latest results from the monthly Rural Mainstreet Index indicate the drought is taking its toll on famers and ethanol/biodiesel plants.
The chronic drought that hit western North America from 2000 to 2004 left dying forests and depleted river basins in its wake and was the strongest in 800 years, but those conditions will become the “new normal” for most of the coming century. Such climatic extremes have increased as a result of global warming.
Jessica Rennells, a climatologist with the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University, comments on data released today confirming that the first six months of 2012 are drier than normal – and that those conditions are expected to persist in a band stretching from Lake Erie to Albany as well as western Pennsylvania. NOTE: An online drought monitor and seasonal drought outlooks are available at: www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu/forecast.html
Data released this week paints a grim picture for farmers throughout the United States. Almost everywhere, fruit, crop, livestock and dairy farmers are being choked by the driest growing season since 1956. Researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University are available to talk with the media about the impacts of the Drought of 2012.
Professors from Appalachian State University, UNC Greensboro, University of West Florida and Indiana University have studied a 58-year history of tropical cyclones and their role in ending drought in the Southeast.
The recent heat wave baking much of the country has prompted many people to ask: Is this due to climate change?
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right