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California is the state that has experienced droughts that lasted more than any civilizations do. The next drought is predicted to last even longer.
STATES CHRONICLE – According to the new research from climate scientists at UCLA, California’s drought is going to last more than 50 years. California is the state that has experienced droughts that lasted more than any civilizations ever had. The next drought is predicted to last even longer.
The increase in greenhouse gasses and the advent of global warming are factors that influence the time of the droughts. California could face a permanent drought due to these factors.
Many factors can remake a region’s climate, from the shift in solar activity to volcanic eruptions. Radiative forcing is the name of this phenomenon, which has been responsible for droughts that lasted from 60 to 5,000 years in California.
The researcher Glen MacDonald says that this phenomenon is not really a drought after awhile, it is just the way things are.
A modern source of warming is the greenhouse gasses that can drive radiative forcing. Due to this source of warming, the need for a change in sunspot activity tohat could cause a drought is smaller. Another issue is that no matter what climate policies are going to be adopted the greenhouse gasses are going to increase, which means a greater potential for radiative forcing.
MacDonald says that if there is another drought in California it could be permanent and the ecosystem will start rearranging itself. Lakes are going to dry; Forests are going to give way to grasslands and deserts and fires are going to be more common.
The researchers found out that there is a tie between the Pacific Ocean and California’s temperatures. They revealed that the surface temperature of the Pacific and the droughts condition in California influence each other.
The weather patterns in the Pacific can be a factor too. El Niño can increase precipitation while La Niña can increase the warm conditions. The shift towards La Niña combined with the radiative forcing is enough for California to be arid forever.
The researches focused on California’s climate records, but this type of climate events have global repercussions. The modern source of warming like the greenhouse gasses affects more and more states of the World.
The research conducted by MacDonald and his team was published in the Nature Journals Scientific Reports this week.
How long do you think the California’s drought is going to last?
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