Large Swaths of Earth Drying Up, Study Suggests

Large Swaths of Earth Drying Up, Study Suggests

LiveScience Staff

LiveScience.com livescience Staff

livescience.com – Tue Oct 12, 7:13 am ET
The soils in large areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including large parts of Australia, Africa and South America, have been drying up in the past decade, a new study finds.

The study is the first major one of its kind to look at the movement of water from the land to the atmosphere, called "evapotranspiration," on a global scale. This phenomenon returns about 60 percent of annual precipitation back to the atmosphere, in the process, using more than half of the solar energy absorbed by land surfaces. This is a key component of the global climate system, linking the cycling of water with energy and carbon cycles.

Most climate models have suggested that evapotranspiration would increase with global warming, because of increased evaporation of water from the ocean and more precipitation overall (water that can evaporate). The new research, published online this week in the journal Nature, found that's exactly what was happening from 1982 to the late 1990s.

But in 1998, this significant increase in evapotranspiration - about 0.3 inches (7 millimeters) of water per year - slowed dramatically or stopped.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20101012/sc_livescience/largeswathsofearthdryingupstudysuggests


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Despite 60 years of oil industry propaganda which continues on even now --

the biggest threat to us all -- to humanity and the planet -- is Global Warming.

And, just a comment on that term GLOBAL WARMING: In 2002, Frank Luntz, GOP political

propagandist, suggested to Bush that he change the name of Global Warming to "Climate

Change."

It has been called Global Warming since the 1950's when it was discovered and it is an

apt name because it makes quite clear that what we are talking about is HEAT ....

it's the HEATING of the environment which creates chaotic weather --

more frequent and more intense weather systems and catastrophes -- from hurricanes to

tornadoes, cyclones and even earthquakes.


AND, just want to also re-stress for anyone who doesn't know this ....

There was a 50 year delay in our feeling the effects of Global Warming -- right now

we are only feeling the effects of our activity up to about 1960!


No one can say how all of this will compound -- but it should be our ONLY issue and we

need to move corporations out and people's government back in.




:)