Extreme dry spell in US West worst 'megadrought' in 1,200 years: Study

The extreme dry spell in the western US over the past two decades is the region's worst "megadrought" in at least 1,200 years. In a new study, published on Monday (14 February) by the University of California, researchers noted a bleak future stating there are even drier days up ahead due to human caused warming and climate change.

Human caused warming, such as turning up the temperature, has played a significant role in the dry spell, said the study and remarked that the climate crisis "will increasingly enhance the odds of long, widespread and severe megadroughts."

The research derived conclusions from a previous research led by the study's lead author Park Williams, a climate hydrologist at UCLA, who ranked the period between 2000 and 2018 as "the second driest in 12 centuries," reports The Guardian.

The impact of the dry years include "record-setting heatwaves, receding reservoirs, and a rise in dangerously erratic blazes that burned both uncontrollably and unseasonably."

Climate scientists from UCLA, Nasa, and Columbia University worked on their research in locations from Montana to northern Mexico and from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. They studied moisture levels in soils. They collected tree ring patterns that gave clues about soil moisture levels over the centuries. "The rings that appear closer together show the stunted growth patterns occurring during dry times," said researchers.

The "megadroughts" refer to long periods of droughts lasting more than 20 years. Though, before industrialisation, water flow was natural and available; now greatly affected by the climate crisis. Researchers have found that deficiency in moisture levels in soils is twice as much now, growing over the last two decades, compared to moisture levels in the 1900s. There is now a 42% increase in severity due to warming caused by humans.

"A large body of research has shown how heat waves will get larger, more extreme, and more frequent," says the study.

Alvar Escriva-Bou, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California's Water Policy Centre, said, "This study highlights the point that we need to reassess our resources."

"We can no longer assume that we have enough water for all the things that we want," said Escriva-Bou calling to reduce agricultural footprint.