Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumBBC - Scientsts Model Next US Dustbowl; Back To The 30s = Lose 40% Of Corn; 2C Rise = 60%
US scientists have modelled how a 1930s-like "dustbowl" drought might impact American agriculture today, and found it to be just as damaging. But the research shows the effects to be very sensitive to temperature, meaning the potential losses would be far worse later this century if Earth's climate heats up as expected.
A repeat of 1930s weather today would lead to a 40% loss in maize production. In a 2-degree warmer world, it becomes a 65% reduction, the team projects.
"The 1930s were really extreme and, yes, the chances of the same precipitation distribution happening again are small," explained Joshua Elliott, from the University of Chicago's Computation Institute. "But the temperature distribution wasn't any more extreme than we've seen in 2012 or 1988, for example.
"And what we see at higher temperatures is that these crops - maize and also soy - are so sensitive that an average year come mid-century could be as bad as 1936, even with normal precipitation," he told BBC News.
EDIT
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35566151
daleanime
(17,796 posts)SamKnause
(13,110 posts)a Black Blizzard.
I can not imagine what it would be like to live through
a dust storm, with winds sometimes as high as 80 mph, that last 4 years !!!!!!
If you are not familiar with the Black Blizzard there are clips of it on YouTube.
Can you imagine rounding up jack rabbits on horseback ???
It happened !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you imagine insects eating everything in sight ???
Even the handles on your shovels, axes, hoes, an rakes.
pscot
(21,024 posts)No worries, eh?