IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v12y2022i3d10.1038_s41558-022-01290-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021

Author

Listed:
  • A. Park Williams

    (University of California, Los Angeles
    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University)

  • Benjamin I. Cook

    (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
    NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies)

  • Jason E. Smerdon

    (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University)

Abstract

A previous reconstruction back to 800 ce indicated that the 2000–2018 soil moisture deficit in southwestern North America was exceeded during one megadrought in the late-1500s. Here, we show that after exceptional drought severity in 2021, ~19% of which is attributable to anthropogenic climate trends, 2000–2021 was the driest 22-yr period since at least 800. This drought will very likely persist through 2022, matching the duration of the late-1500s megadrought.

Suggested Citation

  • A. Park Williams & Benjamin I. Cook & Jason E. Smerdon, 2022. "Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(3), pages 232-234, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:12:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1038_s41558-022-01290-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-022-01290-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01290-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-022-01290-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Margiana Petersen-Rockney, 2022. "Farmers adapt to climate change irrespective of stated belief in climate change: a California case study," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 1-23, August.
    2. Knipper, Kyle & Yang, Yun & Anderson, Martha & Bambach, Nicolas & Kustas, William & McElrone, Andrew & Gao, Feng & Alsina, Maria Mar, 2023. "Decreased latency in landsat-derived land surface temperature products: A case for near-real-time evapotranspiration estimation in California," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    3. Brianda Hernandez Rosales & Alexandra Lutz, 2023. "Assessing the Feasibility of Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting for Food Production in Northwestern Arizona on the Hualapai Indian Reservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Douglas J. Kennett & Marilyn Masson & Carlos Peraza Lope & Stanley Serafin & Richard J. George & Tom C. Spencer & Julie A. Hoggarth & Brendan J. Culleton & Thomas K. Harper & Keith M. Prufer & Susan M, 2022. "Drought-Induced Civil Conflict Among the Ancient Maya," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Renee Obringer & Dave D. White, 2023. "Leveraging Unsupervised Learning to Develop a Typology of Residential Water Users’ Attitudes Towards Conservation," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(1), pages 37-53, January.
    6. Elizabeth C. Hirschman, 2022. "Climate Change Migration and the Economic Rebirth of Central Appalachia," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:12:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1038_s41558-022-01290-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.