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Climate change and aerosol pollution made drought inevitable in the US Southwest: Study
US SOUTHWEST, JUL 9 – A study attributes decreased precipitation and inevitable drought in the US Southwest to human-caused climate change and aerosol pollution, projecting continued dry conditions as temperatures rise.
- Lehner and his team’s study in Nature Geoscience shows climate change and aerosols have caused lower Southwest precipitation, making drought inevitable.
- Starting in the 1980s, La Niña-like conditions and rising aerosol emissions since the 1970s drove the observed drying trend in the US Southwest.
- Researchers used observations and CMIP6 models to isolate aerosol forcing, revealing its dominance and underestimation in simulations, affecting drought projections in the Southwest.
- Water managers in the US Southwest should prepare for persistent drought and possible megadrought before 2100, as climate change makes droughts inevitable, Lehner's study advises.
- Lehner's team projects a 70% chance of a megadrought in the Southwest by late century if emissions rise, with aerosol reductions from East Asian policies potentially easing drying trends.
14 Articles
14 Articles
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More than half of Utah is now in severe drought, but it is far from the only Western state experiencing dry conditions. Utah is on track for one of its driest and warmest years.
Recent southwestern US drought exacerbated by anthropogenic aerosols and tropical ocean warming
The southwestern United States is currently in a multi-decade drought that has developed since a precipitation maximum in the 1980s. While anthropogenic warming has made the drought more severe, it is the decline in winter–spring precipitation that has had a more profound effect on water resources and ecosystems. This precipitation decline is not well understood beyond its attribution to the post-1980 La Niña-like cooling trend in tropical sea s…
WNTZ FOX 48
Climate change and aerosol pollution made drought inevitable in the Southwest: Study
(The Hill) - The combined effects of climate change and air pollution have led to direct declines in precipitation in the U.S. Southwest, making drought inevitable, a new study has shown. These circumstances, which began taking hold in about 1980, are likely here to stay as the planet warms, according to the study, published on Wednesday in Nature Geoscience. Its authors attributed this decades-long trend toward less precipitation to La Niña-lik…
Climate change and aerosol pollution made drought inevitable in the US Southwest: Study
The combined effects of climate change and air pollution have led to direct declines in precipitation in the U.S. Southwest, making drought inevitable, a new study has shown. These circumstances, which began taking hold in about 1980, are likely here to stay as the planet warms, according to the study, published on Wednesday in Nature Geoscience.…
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