Scientists Find Climate Change Behind Extreme Drought And Rain
In a new study published in Nature Water, authors find a warming planet is increasing the frequency, duration, and severity of drought and heavy rainfall events. “This is an observation. It’s actual data,” Matthew Rodell, a hydrologist at NASA and co-author of the study told the Washington Post. More severe drought and rainfall occurred in the last 8 years than in the previous decade, a trend that authors find is attributable to anthropogenic climate change. The scientists used a pair of satellites to measure how the Earth stored water - in groundwater, surface water, ice, and snow - over 1,000 events from from 2002 to 2021. “It’s incredible that we can now monitor the pulse of continental water from outer space,” Park Williams, a bioclimatologist who was not involved in the study told the AP. “I have a feeling when future generations look back and try to determine when humanity really began understanding the planet as a whole, this will be one of the studies highlighted.”
(PBS NewsHour, AP, CNN, Washington Post $, New York Times $)
(Climate Signals Background: Drought, Extreme Precipitation)
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