NASA’s research is the product of an analysis of the computer simulations from 14 climate models. They span 140 years and they show that warming from carbon dioxide will change the frequency that regions around the planet receive rain.
Some parts of the world will see significant increases in rainfall. These areas include tropical zones around the equator, particularly in the Pacific Ocean and Asian monsoon regions.
While some parts of the world will suffer from too much rain, other parts of the world will suffer from extreme drought. By 2050 NASA’s research indicates that there will be no rain in much of the Southwest and California. The Amazon are also expected to suffer from “megadroughts.”
As explained in a NASA news release:
“Some regions outside the tropics may have no rainfall at all. The models also projected for every degree Fahrenheit of warming, the length of periods with no rain will increase globally by 2.6 percent. In the Northern Hemisphere, areas most likely to be affected include the deserts and arid regions of the southwest United States, Mexico, North Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, and northwestern China. In the Southern Hemisphere, drought becomes more likely in South Africa, northwestern Australia, coastal Central America and northeastern Brazil.”
Some of the most devastating impacts of reduced rainfall will be felt in areas that get moderate rainfall because this is where most people live. Water is essential for life and rainfall is also a critical element of food production. These new precipitation patterns will lead to increased water scarcity and food shortages. It is likely that this will cause major climate change related migrations.
NASA’s latest research findings are not spurious, they are corroborated a slew of other studies which have come to the same conclusions.
© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
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