A new study published on the world’s leading interdisciplinary science journal the “Nature” warned of an increase in the frequency of sudden, rapid droughts, due to climate change caused by human activities.
The researchers analyzed data spanning more than 60 years (1951-2014), combining satellite observations with soil moisture data from the ground.
The study’s lead author, Cheng Yuan, a professor at China’s Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, said that rapid droughts are increasing, “especially in Europe, in northern and eastern Asia, in the Sahel region of Africa and on the western coasts of South America.”
He stressed that these phenomena are “dangerous because of their rapid emergence, and because they do not leave enough time to prepare.”
The study also showed that the frequency of traditional droughts has also increased in most regions, and they tend to occur more rapidly.
In the study, the researchers calculated the impact of different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios on future rapid droughts, based on climate models.
David Walker, a researcher at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, said the study authors’ “warning” “should be taken seriously”.
In a commentary also published in the journal Science, he notes that areas particularly affected by rapid drought “are largely located in low-income countries, where populations lack the resources to cope with these extreme weather events.”
The concept of rapid drought appeared at the beginning of the 21st century, but it has received more attention since the summer drought of 2012 in the United States, which came very quickly and caused economic losses of more than $30 billion.
