According to new research, the number of people who will suffer as a result of extreme droughts is expected to increase to more than 2 times its current levels in the latter half of this century.

This new information comes from research performed by a global network of scientists begin led by a team at Michigan State University. More than 20 helped to author the results.

Currently about 3 percent of the world population is greatly impacted by severe drought. Much more than just a lack of clean water, the drought conditions lead to food shortages for those in the areas.

The new research predicts that this number will increase to around 8 percent by the late 21^st century. The results were recently published in Nature Climate Change.

“More and more people will suffer from extreme droughts if a medium-to-high level of global warming continues and water management is maintained in its present state,” said Yadu Pokhrel – civil and environmental engineer and lead author of the research paper.

“Areas of the Southern Hemisphere, where water scarcity is already a problem, will be disproportionately affected. We predict this increase in water scarcity will affect food security and escalate human migration and conflict.”

Additionally, the scientists are projecting that two-thirds of the planet will see a large reduction in natural land water storage. This includes the water which normally accumulates in snow and ice, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, wetlands, soil and groundwater. All of which is being driven by climate change.

This land water storage, represents critically important components of the world’s water and energy supply. “Our findings are a concern,” Pokhrel said.

“To date, no study has examined how climate change would impact land water storage globally. Our study presents the first comprehensive picture of how global warming and socioeconomic changes will affect land water storage and what that will mean for droughts through the end of the century.”

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Bordeaux is well known for its structured, age-worthy red wines, made with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with few other varieties as supporting actors, including Petit Verdot and the rarer Malbec and Carménère.

Although Bordeaux may not want to change its ways, global warming is real, and that means adapting or death. With increasing temperatures during the grapes’ growing season, the future does not look bright for Bordeaux producers.

Early January 2021, the INAO, the department in charge of French wine’s quality, finally authorized a set of new grapes for Bordeaux: Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan and Touriga Nacional. Two white grapes were included as well, Alvarinho and Liliorila.

While this may not sound like much to the average person, this is a very big deal. For wine purists, this is like saying Italians will now make pizza with apple puree instead of tomato sauce. What does this mean for Bordeaux wines? It means survival trumps tradition, and that climate change affects us in more ways than we thought.

Wine books will have to be rewritten, and wine lovers will need to reassess their knowledge about classic wine regions and their grapes, starting with Bordeaux.

The world of wine is ever-evolving, and nothing is set in stone. Do you think you know Bordeaux? Think again.

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According to data published in Nature, for the first time in almost decades, a positive change in the environmental conditions has been observed. 

The conditions of lock-down caused by COVID-19, and the prevailing work-from-home situation appears to be driving the drop in CO2 emissions. Transport-led emissions lead the way with a recent report suggesting that transport emissions have reduced by 40% worldwide.

The power and industry sectors have seen the second largest reduction in carbon emissions, behind transportation, with a decline reported as 22% and 17%, respectively.

The reduction may seem to be a good sign. Unfortunately, this effect will undoubtedly be temporary. As people return to work after completion of lock-downs, there will likely be a corresponding increase in the related CO2 emissions.

If the policymakers in corporations continue to find ways for their employees to be effective while working remotely, this could become a permanent change. The key is to see this period of lockdown as a preparatory phase to ensure that this new-found lifestyle becomes the ‘new normal’ and sustains for the years to come.

It will help the employees save on transportation costs and the companies on the travel allowances, but it will also help keep the CO2 levels reduced. This policy change may be just what is required for making Earth a sustainable place to be.

Scientists collected real-time data by compiling the daily flight statistics and monthly production data of about 42 countries. It also includes the hourly production records of electricity of some 31 countries, and others.

All these datasets have painted a picture that tells how important it is to curtail the actions that, though contributing to economic development, are going unjustifiably against the well-being or good health of the planet. 

As the pandemic lock-down has started to lift, there has been a corresponding rebound in the levels of CO2 emissions. Perhaps this pandemic, and the shutdown, have shown us a way to reduce CO2 emissions permanently – while still being productive.

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Published in the Nature, the study is based on work done by scientists from the University of Buffalo. Researchers, led by geologist Jason Briner, developed models of the ice melt. These models are able to reconstruct the climate thousands of years ago, and use that information to produce their findings.

With their data and the models, they are able to more accurately understand the Greenland ice sheet. Not only do the models let them better understand the past in the area, but also better predict the future.

What they have found in their predictions of the future, and their understanding of the present, is astounding.

“Basically, we’ve altered our planet so much that the rates of ice sheet melt this century are on pace to be greater than anything we’ve seen under natural variability of the ice sheet over the past 12,000 years,” says Briner.

“We’ll blow that out of the water if we don’t make severe reductions to greenhouse gas emissions.”

The results of this study, add to the mountains of climate change data that scientists have amassed in recent years. Unfortunately, many politicians still choose to ignore or discount the findings.

Based on their data, Briner and his team are urging leaders in countries world-wide to make the necessary changes to slow the decline of ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise.

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A recent article in National Geographic references a government sponsored report that has revealed the problem. Large portions of the US could see as much as a 30% reduction of fresh water supplies in the next 50 years.

The primary driver of the impending shortage is the excess use and waste of freshwater. In many regions, America will soon find itself in a situation where freshwater basins will not meet the water demand.

On average, Americans use over 345 billion gallons of water every day. With the high increase in population, the shortage of water is going to be a serious problem for country. Of the 204 water basins which provide fresh water to Americans, 96 are already suffering from evaporation and water demand.

Some studies say that the effects of shortages could be felt as early as next year. Forty states in the US are facing a dry forecast due to water shortages by next year. California stands out in one of the worst droughts in recent history.

While historically dry areas are becoming drier, recent sudden climatic changes are also leading to wet regions becoming wetter. The result are natural disasters at both ends of the spectrum.

According to the experts, the best thing for Americans to do is to focus on water conservation and reduce waste. For the next generation, this will be a must.

In 80 years, the population will have increased by 200 million in the US. With half a billion people then living in the country, resources will be greatly strained.

The recent report indicates that by 2071, half of America’s freshwater and rivers will not meet the monthly water demands.

With an anticipated 5.7-degree average temperature increase expected in the near future, the water shortage problem will only get worse without action.

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Most recently, planetary scientists have discovered an almost unbelievable connection between equatorial winds along the middle of the Earth and waves in the air above Antarctica – over six-thousand mile away.

The research team calls what they have discovered a Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO).

This discovery connects the effect of winds blowing around the equator to the impact that they have at the remote poles.

This information will add to the information used when meteorologists and climate scientists create models of the atmosphere which are used to predict weather and analyze and predict climate change.

In North America in recent years, there have been severe winter storms brought about by what has been referred to as a Polar Vortex.

This recent discovery will help us to better understand how weather in other parts of the world influence these vortexes, and will ultimately allow forecasters to have more advanced prediction models for the severe weather which they create.

“We have now seen how this atmospheric pattern propagates from the equator all the way to the high latitudes of Antarctica, showing how these far-away regions can be linked in ways we didn’t know about before,” said Zimu Li, lead author of the study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

According to the study, the QBO causes the upper atmospheric winds along the equator to periodically reverse direction between east and west. It appears that the polar vortex over the south pole gets larger during easterly flow and gets smaller as the winds flow to the west.

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To help better understand trends and the potential for the impact on water supplies, forest fires and the global ecosystem as a whole, University of California at Irvine are using new techniques to model and analyze factors related to snow droughts across the planet.

Changes in global weather patterns often affect drought conditions in parts of the world by creating conditions that lead to stronger or weaker than usual rainfall or tropical storms. This is often reported in terms of an El-Nino or La-Nina systems by weather reporters.

These systems, and the rain amounts of rain they bring have an almost immediate effect for potential drought conditions in a region.

Snow drought, however, can be harder to gauge. This is because the effect of variations in snowfall many not be immediately seen until the snowpack which builds up in high elevations starts to run low.

It is not at all uncommon to have snowfall build up in layers and remain virtually un-melted for years with consecutive years of abundant snowfall. Each spring and summer, some of the ice melts and fills rivers and streams, but much of it remains.

Because of this, the impact of a reduced amount of snowfall in a season or two may not be immediately seen. It is when the snowpack starts to run low, in addition to a below average season, that the impact on areas downstream become most apparent.

This is the challenge for scientists when trying to make predictions about impending drought conditions. It is here that the new modeling by researchers come into play.  

“Snow is an important global water resource that plays a vital role in natural processes, agriculture, hydropower and the basic socioeconomic conditions of various regions,” said lead author Laurie Huning. “While other forms of drought are well-studied, variations in snow droughts on a global scale have been examined to a far lesser extent until now.”

Armed with new methods, based on a new snow water equivalent index, the researchers looked at data in mountain ranges across the globe going back to more than 40 years.

For the western states of the U.S., the analysis pointed to an increase in snow droughts of twenty-eight percent during the most recent half of that time period.

The study indicates prolonged snow droughts in western state of the U.S. including California, Oregon, Washington. While not as severe, they also saw a similar issue for parts of Eastern Russia and Europe.

Other regions of the world appeared to fair better with a decrease in average snow drought severity. This includes areas surrounding the mountainous regions of Asia and South America.

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The announcement comes from scientists at the State University of New York at Stony Brook who say that the improvements can help determine which severe storms are most likely to produce dangerous tornadoes.

“Identifying which storms are going to produce tornadoes and which are not has been a problem that meteorologists have been trying to tackle for decades,” said atmospheric scientist Scott Loeffler of Penn State. “This new research may give forecasters another tool to do that.”

One of the keys in this new radar technology is something known as polarimetric capabilities which allow scientists to determine shape and size of raindrops. After comparing areas with large, sparse raindrops vs. regions dense with smaller drops, in over 100 supercell thunderstorms, researchers found this to be a key differentiator between tornadic and non-tornadic supercells.

“These findings have potentially large implications for the accuracy and confidence of tornado warnings and public safety during severe storms,” said Matthew Kumjian of Penn State and senior author of a paper in Geophysical Research Letters. “We look forward to getting this information in the hands of operational meteorologists to assess the impact it has.”

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Yes, you heard that right. The coldest regions in the world are experiencing a heatwave and wildfires this year. Temperatures in the Arctic have reached 95°F. One direct result of this is that the ice in the ocean is melting.

The entire Arctic Circle is experiencing extremely hot weather, even towns that have never seen such heat and are the coldest in the region. Many cities and places all over Russia are experiencing this increase in temperature.

It is not just Russia, even Scandinavia, and Northern Canada are experiencing heat this year. So, what does this say about the future of the world, and why are these changes happening?

Why The Temperature Is Getting Hotter

Firstly, let’s understand how a heat wave works. At first, the pressure in the atmosphere keeps increasing in a specific area. This pressure forces the clouds to move away from the area and so direct sunlight hits the ground.

The ground then consistently starts absorbing direct sunlight and because of less wind and constant heat, the temperature starts increasing. A good analogy of this is the heat within the oven when something is baking.

The heat is trapped with nothing going in and nothing coming out. The same way heat on the ground gets trapped and this causes a heatwave. Places near the Arctic such as Russia are experiencing this now because these places have long sunlight hours in the summer.

The sunlight is there even at night-time and so there is constant heat. This year it turned into a heatwave and wildfires because there was very little snow. The winter was not that cold this year, with a touch of warmth in the air and so all the snow quickly melted away once summer came.

This lack of snow and constant sunlight has caused a heatwave this year and wildfires all across. Wildfires are not unusual in Siberia but a cause for concern as they are a result of climate change.

Impact On Climate Change

These fires are expanding and spreading every year in Siberia. The top reason for this is climate change. We all know the effects of global warming with temperatures increasing every year and this is exactly what has happened here.

However, one thing to note here is that the rate of climate change is different in every part of the Earth. The Arctic is experiencing double the rate than any other place on Earth.

This is why the people and places that will be first affected by climate change are near the Arctic. These countries foreshadow what will soon happen to the rest of the world.

These are grave consequences and one that will impact the whole world extremely negatively. These events are likely to become more normal in the future and that shouldn’t be the case. This is why all of us collectively should do our part in slowing down climate change so wildfires and heat waves don’t happen and ruin the land.

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