The Western U.S. is set to experience a record-breaking water shortage, according to recent bioclimatology studies.
Scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have been analyzing weather models, climate observations and more than a thousand years worth of tree ring data.
The tree rings are especially important because they show moisture trends that date back to before humans influenced climate.
Covering an area that stretches over nine U.S. states and part of northern Mexico, the study highlights a current drought that is thought to be worse than other “megadroughts,” which lasted decades in previous centuries.
Scientists say rising temperatures are the key contributor to the current water shortage, and the severity would be significantly reduced if global warming were taken out of the picture.
