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Science - AFP
Abnormal ocean temperatures caused devastating 1930s US drought: NASA
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The devastating drought that crippled US agriculture in the 1930s was caused by disparate temperatures between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, according to a NASA study.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration researchers developed a computer model to study climate over the last 100 years.
They found cooler than normal temperatures on the surface of the southern Pacific Ocean and warmer temperatures in the southern Atlantic Ocean in the 1930s, according to the study published in the March 19 edition of the journal Science.
The abnormal temperatures created the conditions that led to the infamous "Dust Bowl" drought of 1931-1939 in the Great Plains, the study said.
The temperature changes in the sea surface created shifts in weather patterns and low level winds that reduced the amount of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.
The changes dried out the Great Plains, which are known as the country's breadbasket.
"The 1930s drought was the major climatic event in the nation's history," said Siegfried Schubert of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who led the study.
"Just beginning to understand what occurred is really critical to understanding future droughts and the links to global climate change issues we're experiencing today," he said.
Science - AFP
Abnormal ocean temperatures caused devastating 1930s US drought: NASA
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The devastating drought that crippled US agriculture in the 1930s was caused by disparate temperatures between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, according to a NASA study.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration researchers developed a computer model to study climate over the last 100 years.
They found cooler than normal temperatures on the surface of the southern Pacific Ocean and warmer temperatures in the southern Atlantic Ocean in the 1930s, according to the study published in the March 19 edition of the journal Science.
The abnormal temperatures created the conditions that led to the infamous "Dust Bowl" drought of 1931-1939 in the Great Plains, the study said.
The temperature changes in the sea surface created shifts in weather patterns and low level winds that reduced the amount of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.
The changes dried out the Great Plains, which are known as the country's breadbasket.
"The 1930s drought was the major climatic event in the nation's history," said Siegfried Schubert of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who led the study.
"Just beginning to understand what occurred is really critical to understanding future droughts and the links to global climate change issues we're experiencing today," he said.
