The United States will likely experience 'megadroughts' the magnitude of which haven't been experienced in a millennium, due in large part to man-made climate change, a new study conducted by NASA, Columbia University and Cornell University scientists said.
The study analyzed climate models and tree ring records in portions of at least 16 states and found that global temperature rise due to man-made climate change, and not a lack of precipitation, could increase the chance of the West and Southwest experiencing a megadrought -- a severe drought lasting decades -- by the year 2100 to more than 80 percent, National Geographic reports.
"This is an amazing result ... The precipitation is not so dire. It is the escalation in temperature that is driving the model simulations toward dramatic aridity, " David Stahle, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Arkansas points out to LiveScience.com.
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