The Los Angeles Times ran an article today describing the impacts of groundwater pumping on agriculture in California’s Central Valley (link). High rates of groundwater use have caused ground levels to subside by as much as a foot a year, and have also lowered water tables, forcing farmers to pay…
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The headline above sounds sensational, and some people claim that it is, but the warning comes from a respected NASA scientist. He says “As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January…
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We’re about halfway through March, and so far for the month the Southeast has been warmer and drier than normal across almost the entire region. The warmth has been especially strong in Florida and southern Georgia. Dry conditions in southern Alabama have contributed to the continuing drought there. Generally the…
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As the window on the wet season in California starts to close, there are signs that the drought affecting the area is likely to continue and perhaps even to grow over the coming year. The Western Governors’ Association released a report this week stating that snowpacks in the mountainous areas…
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A recent study by researchers at Kansas State University looked at wheat yields in areas across the world to see how temperatures affected the yields of the popular crop. For the study, researchers systematically tested 30 wheat crop models against field experiments from around the world that were conducted in…
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A new NASA study this week shows the potential impacts of the warming climate on the occurrence of “megadroughts”, which are multi-year extreme droughts that have historically affected areas like California and the central part of the US. (Tree ring analysis has shown that the Southeast has also experienced megadroughts…
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The Christian Science Monitor published a story earlier this month that describes the efforts of some scientists to improve drought resistance in plants by changing their ability to regulate water use. The hope is that by changing the way plants respond to moisture stress, they may be able to alter their…
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