Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Earth Science News .




WATER WORLD
Study: Warming to see monsoon failures
by Staff Writers
New Delhi (UPI) Nov 5, 2012


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

India's summer monsoons, vital for watering the country's farmlands, could see frequent failures in the next two centuries with global warming, researchers say.

The effects of such frequent and severe failures would be devastating to India's economy, they said.

Writing in the journal Environmental Research Letters, researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Potsdam University in Germany said increasing temperatures and a change in strength of a Pacific Ocean circulation pattern known as the Pacific Walker circulation in spring could cause more frequent and severe changes in monsoon rainfall.

The Walker circulation usually brings areas of high pressure to the western Indian Ocean but in El Nino years this pattern gets shifted eastward, bringing high pressure over India and suppressing the monsoon, they said.

Computer simulations show that with future global warming the Walker circulation is likely to bring more high pressure over India even without an increase in El Nino events.

These failures of the monsoon system suggested by the simulation, defined as a 40 percent to 70 percent reduction in rainfall below normal levels, were unprecedented in the researchers' observational record, taken from the India Meteorological Department dating back to the 1870s.

"Our study points to the possibility of even more severe changes to monsoon rainfall caused by climatic shifts that may take place later this century and beyond," lead author Jacob Schewe said.

.


Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








WATER WORLD
Lake Aibi shrinks as desertification rises
Beijing (UPI) Nov 5, 2012
China faces a losing battle to restore Lake Aibi's ecosystem due to worsening desertification in the region of the salt lake, officials say. The large lake in northwestern China's Gobi region sits in an internally draining, salt-rich basin near the border of Xinjiang-Uighur province and Kazakhstan. It has been shrinking at more than 15 square miles a year because of encroaching desert. ... read more


WATER WORLD
French seek compensation for cancelled New York marathon

New York kids back in school, but chaos continues

Thousands run in New York race of disappointment

Asia's newest megacity offers model for urban growth as populations swell worldwide

WATER WORLD
Sensors for the real world

Soluble circuit boards to reduce e-waste

Megaupload boss aims to lie low

How Butterfly Wings Can Inspire New High-Tech Surfaces

WATER WORLD
Australia reef collapse blamed on farming

Man dies of thirst in Australian Outback

Laos breaks ground on Xayaburi Dam

Veolia reports profit fall but shares surge

WATER WORLD
Russia backs its claims for Arctic Shelf with evidence

Britain to keep Antarctic research group

Antarctic ocean sanctuary talks end in failure

Two Perfect Days for IceBridge

WATER WORLD
Greenpeace stages anti-GM 'toxic warning' protest

Smallholder farmers need improved stake in Nile's development

Making barley less thirsty

Ozone's impact on soybean yield: Reducing future losses

WATER WORLD
Croatia floods force hundreds to evacuate

15 feared dead in Guatemala quake

Death toll in south India floods rises to 45: officials

Slovenia urges evacuation as river overflows banks

WATER WORLD
Somalia charcoal exports fuelling conflict flout UN ban

Outside View: Mounting tension in Mali

West Africa army chiefs adopt Mali intervention strategy

Mali Islamist rebels urge dialogue, halt to hostilities

WATER WORLD
Bigger human genome pool uncovers more rare variants

Village in Bulgaria said Europe's oldest

Genetics suggest global human expansion

'Digital eternity' beckons as death goes high-tech




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement