"Dust turns out to be very important to changes in precipitation," Ning Zeng of the University of Maryland said. "This is a pretty new discovery, and something that's always under-emphasized in climate models." For example, Zeng said that dust emissions from Sahel region of Africa can account for fluctuations of up to 50 percent in regional precipitation. Projections for climate change through the end of the 21st century call for significant warming, and increasing dryness in several parts of the world. Developed countries like the United States have subsidies and regulations in place to bolster farmers' resilience to drought. But developing regions often lack such infrastructure, and are particularly vulnerable to future droughts that could snowball into Dust Bowl-like disasters. Related Links: Go to Discovery Earth for images, interviews and more Discovery Earth: Earth Impacts |
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