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May 26, 2006
| Subtropical Warming Leading To Bigger Deserts | Environment |
The steady drumbeat of global warming news continues. Reuters:
Earth's atmosphere is warming faster over the subtropics than anywhere else, which could mean bigger deserts and more drought from Africa to Australia to the Middle East, researchers said on Thursday.The fast-heating area girdles the globe at about 30 degrees north and south latitude, crossing the southern United States, southern China and north Africa in the Northern Hemisphere, and southern Australia, South Africa and southern South America in the Southern Hemisphere.
Based on 25 years of satellite data, researchers at the University of Washington also determined that the jet streams — a pattern of westerly winds that help drive weather in both hemispheres — have shifted about 70 miles toward their respective poles.
This is important because the jet streams mark the northern and southern boundaries of the tropic climate zones, said John Wallace, an atmospheric scientist and co-author of a research paper in this week's Science journal. The jet streams' shift toward the poles means the zones are expanding. [...]
The dry subtropical climate regions, which contain some of the world's major deserts, could encroach into temperate regions, Wallace said. Areas such as the Mediterranean, southern Europe and the northern part of the Middle East could have a tendency toward more drought, Wallace said.
The same might happen in southern Australia and South Africa, he said.
The study does not address whether this warming is due to the greenhouse effect or some other factor. It is different from previous models, which saw the fastest warming in the tropics, rather than the subtropics. [Emphasis added]
We are all participants in an ongoing experiment at planetary scale. It's up to us to help determine the experiment's outcome.
[Thanks, Jeff]
Posted by Jonathan at May 26, 2006 12:39 PM
