NASA Study says global warming causing drought in SW

Look for conservative think-tanks and radio hosts to attack this report ASAP.  Before they do, keep in mind that this particular global warming study comes from a government agency that based their findings on satellite data:

A new NASA study says that global warming could increase droughts insouthwest United States, Mexico, parts of North Africa, the MiddleEast, and Australia -- areas already stressed by periodic watershortages.

Comparing historical records of the climate impact of changesin the sun's output with models projecting higher atmosphericconcentrations of greenhouse gases, the researchers found "that awarmer future climate likely will produce droughts in the same areas asthose observed in ancient times, but potentially with greaterseverity."

"These findings strongly suggest that greenhouse gases and long-termchanges in solar activity both can have major influences on climate viasimilar processes," said Dr. Drew Shindell, lead author of the paperthat appeared in the Dec. 27, 2006, issue of Geophysical Research Lettersand a scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in NewYork. "There is some evidence that rainfall patterns already may bechanging. Much of the Mediterranean area, North Africa and the MiddleEast rapidly are becoming drier. If the trend continues as expected,the consequences may be severe in only a couple of decades. Thesechanges could pose significant water resource challenges to largesegments of the population."

This report comes just one day after corporate moguls, of all people, warned members of Congress at a climate hearing that the time to put caps on greenhouse emissions is now, as opposed to passing that burden to future generations when the problem is even worse.

Comments

[Tony]

Why is it that the people that oppose Global Warming, find so hard to believe that all the crap emitted into our atmosphere can cause "some sort" of problem?

Tony

[ted K]

I wonder what is causing the record snowfalls back east?

Lots of "coulds" and "ifs" and "suggests'' in that report.

Also the "changes in solar activity" which points to the ovserved data of the sun getting hotter (which its temperature varies its heat levels), was interesting.

[Administrator: Todd]

Ted K, if you bothered to research about what global warming does to extreme weather, then you'd stop claiming that the snow in the NE is vindication that global warming is a hoax.