The United States of America (USA) is staring at unprecedented ‘megadroughts’ in the next millennium. This is mainly due to man-made climate changes. A study was carried out by NASA which analyzed climatic models and tree ring records of around 16 states. The result of the study shows that global temperature is on the rise because of man-made climate changes and not due to lack of rain.
This means that chances of the country’s west and southwest regions experiencing megadroughts (severe drought lasting decades) would be more than 80 per cent by the year 2100. This is interesting because the ‘megadroughts’ would happen due to rise in temperature which is causing aridity and not because of deficient rain.
These megadroughts may last for decades and could be much worse than the ancient and medieval times drought which ended the Anasazi civilization more than 1000 years ago. The impact of this drought will be significant for the western parts of North America as it will affect agriculture, ecosystems and water supplies to the cities in the region. Currently California is in the middle of a record breaking drought and the potential impacts can easily be felt. The future of west US looks grim but there might still be some hope. It is to be noted that ‘megadroughts’ doesn’t mean no water but significantly less water than normal.
However, the situation of other regions like central plains is uncertain because the tree ring records which were used in the study showed that the chances of megadroughts are more distinct in the western US than those in the central plains.
