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Articles on Drought

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Satellites can quickly detect and monitor wildfires from space, like this 2017 fire that encroached on Ventura, California. NASA Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens

Bringing tech innovation to wildfires: 4 recommendations for smarter firefighting as megafires menace the US

Natasha Stavros, University of Colorado Boulder

Satellites can already spot a new fire within minutes, but the information they beam back to Earth isn’t getting to everyone who needs it or used as well as it could be.
Migrants hoping to reach the distant U.S. border walk along a highway in Guatemala in January 2021. AP Photo/Sandra Sebastian

As more climate migrants cross borders seeking refuge, laws will need to adapt

Katharine M. Donato, Georgetown University; Amanda Carrico, University of Colorado Boulder, and Jonathan M. Gilligan, Vanderbilt University

Climate migrants don’t fit neatly into the legal definitions of refugee or migrant, and that can leave them in limbo. The Biden administration is debating how to identify and help them.
Heat and dryness are leaving high mountain areas more vulnerable to forest fires. David McNew/Getty Images

Western fires are burning higher in the mountains at unprecedented rates – it’s a clear sign of climate change

Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced, and Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, McGill University

As the risk of fires rises in areas once considered too wet to burn, it creates hazards for mountain communities and for downstream water supplies.
Water flows from the Vaal Dam after several sluice gates were opened in February 2021. Heavy rains in the Gauteng province resulted in a spike in dam levels. Deaan Vivier/ via GettyImages

Why full dams don’t mean water security: a look at South Africa

Mike Muller, University of the Witwatersrand

Gauteng citizens need to know the uncomfortable truth: for the next six years, their water supplies will increasingly have to be restricted.
Wildfire smoke rises near Prince Albert, Sask., in May 2021, where a fast-moving wildfire led local officials to declare a state of emergency. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kayle Neis

How wildfires affect climate change — and vice versa

Carly Phillips, University of Victoria

Recent wildfire seasons have been worsened by climate change. But wildfires also lead to additional climate warming when they release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
An almost-dry dam, surrounded by wheat fields, in WA’s wheatbelt region. Shutterstock

We found a secret history of megadroughts written in tree rings. The wheatbelt’s future may be drier than we thought

Alison O'Donnell, The University of Western Australia; Edward Cook, Columbia University, and Pauline Grierson, The University of Western Australia

Our research found that in 700 years, the 20th century was the wheatbelt’s wettest. This means all our drought predictions are skewed.
Dry conditions across the West follow a hot, dry year of record-setting wildfires in 2020. Communities were left with scenes like this, from California’s Creek Fire. Amir Aghakouchak/University of California Irvine

Another dangerous fire season is looming in the Western U.S., and the drought-stricken region is headed for a water crisis

Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; Amir AghaKouchak, University of California, Irvine, and John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced

Drought conditions are so bad, fish hatcheries are trucking their salmon to the ocean and ranchers are worried about having enough water for their livestock.
The California Aqueduct, which carries water more than 400 miles south from the Sierra Nevada, splits as it enters Southern California at the border of Kern and Los Angeles counties. California DWR

Installing solar panels over California’s canals could yield water, land, air and climate payoffs

Roger Bales, University of California, Merced and Brandi McKuin, University of California, Santa Cruz

Installing solar panels over California’s 4,000 miles of canals could generate less expensive, renewable energy, save water, fight climate change – and offer a solution for the thirsty American West.
A soldier looking over a maize field where Somali farmers are tending a crop in Dollow, northern Somalia. TONY KARUMBA/AFP/GettyImages

Somalia is facing another food crisis: here’s why – and what can be done to stop the cycle

Paul Porter, University of Minnesota and Hussein Haji, City University of Mogadishu

For decades Somalia has been in a near-constant state of food insecurity. This is due to a combination of stagnant crop production, a rapidly increasing population and political unrest.
Aerial view of Lake Powell on the Colorado River along the Arizona-Utah border. AP Photo/John Antczak

Interstate water wars are heating up along with the climate

Robert Glennon, University of Arizona

The Supreme Court recently dealt defeat to Florida in its 20-year legal battle with Georgia over river water. Other interstate water contests loom, but there are no sure winners in these lawsuits.

Related Topics

  1. Agriculture
  2. Bushfires
  3. Climate change
  4. El Nino
  5. Floods
  6. Peacebuilding
  7. Rainfall
  8. Water
  9. Weather
  10. Wildfires

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