Natural variability in Australian rainfall can produce “mega-droughts” lasting 20 years or more. Add in human-caused climate change, and future droughts may be far worse than imagined.
Articles on Megadrought
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New research shows Australia experienced a number of megadroughts in the last 1,000 years, We may be underestimating the severity of drought in Australia’s future.
Producers in Zambia should be getting more for their crops, and buyers in East Africa should be paying less, alleviating food price spikes.
If the world overshoots its climate targets, drought could cause dryland areas to expand by a quarter and encompass half the Earth’s land area, threatening lives and livelihoods.
Dry regions will get drier and wet regions wetter as the climate changes. How quickly? Quicker than we thought, unfortunately.
This hardy desert plant lives in the hostile Atacama Desert in Chile by sucking moisture out of passing fog. As water resources become ever more scarce, humans could follow suit.
Tree rings carry a wealth of information, which can be used to uncover climate data from hundreds of years ago.
Top contributors
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Chief Scientist, Australian Antarctic Division and Professor of Climate Science, Australian National University
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Economist at Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development, University of Johannesburg
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Associate Professor, UNSW
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Australian National University
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Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO
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Director, West Australian Biogeochemistry Centre; Professor School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia
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Climate Scientist, Columbia University
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Research Fellow, University of Sydney
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ARC Future Fellow, University of Tasmania
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Research Fellow, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences., UNSW
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Professor of Economics, Centre for Competition, Regulation & Economic Development, UJ, and at SOAS University of London; advisor Shamba Centre for Food & Climate, University of Johannesburg
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Canada Research Chair, Climate Change, Energy and Sustainability, University of Regina
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Professor of Physical Geography and Geo-education, Heidelberg University of Education
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Research Director, Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI)
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Professor of Physical Geography, Swansea University