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North American Drought Variability
Drought constitutes one of the most significant and widespread manners in which climate variability and change impact humans. The 1987-1989 U.S. drought, for example, resulted in approximately $40 billon in estimated costs. The paleoclimate record indicates that droughts lasting much longer have occurred, including multi-decadal “megadroughts”. Our research is focused on reconstructing and understanding the full range of drought variability, as well as how climate change may cause changes in drought regimes (i.e., drought frequency and duration). One specific focus includes the role of tropical Pacific and Atlantic variability on droughts in North America. Also of interest are changes in the spatial patterns of different droughts within a region. Recent research by Jeremy Weiss and Jonathan Overpeck, along with University of Arizona colleague Chris Castro, shows that the 2000s drought in the Southwest U.S. was more focused in Four Corners area than during the previous pronounced regional drought during the 1950s.
Abrupt
Climate Change
IPCC
J. Cole, J. Conroy, E. Cook, K. Trenberth, R. Webb, J. Weiss, C. Woodhouse
Weiss, J.L., C.L. Castro, and J.T. Overpeck. 2009. Distinguishing Pronounced Droughts in the Southwestern United States: Seasonality and Effects of Warmer Temperatures. Journal of Climate 22: 5918-5932. Conroy, J.L., J.T. Overpeck, J.E. Cole, and M. Steinitz-Kannan. 2009. Variable oceanic influences on western North American drought over the last 1200 years. Geophysical Research Letters 36: 10.1029/2009GL039558. Mangan, J.M, J.T. Overpeck, R.S. Webb, C. Wessman, and A.F.H. Goetz. 2004. Response of Nebraska Sand Hills natural vegetation to drought, fire, grazing, and plant functional type shifts as simulated by the CENTURY model. Climatic Change 63: 49-90. Overpeck, J. and K. Trenberth. 2004. “CLIVAR/PAGES/IPCC Workshop: A multi-millennia perspective on drought and implications for the future.” Workshop Report. UCAR, Boulder, CO.
Trenberth, K., J. Overpeck, and S. Solomon. 2004. Exploring drought and its implications for the future. EOS 85 (No. 3): 27.
Cole, J.E., J.T. Overpeck, and E.R. Cook. 2002. Multiyear La Niña events and persistent drought in the contiguous United States. Geophysical Research Letters 29: 10.1029/2001GL013561. Woodhouse, C.A. and J.T. Overpeck. 1998. 2000 years of drought variability in the central United States. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 79: 2693-2714. Overpeck, J.T. 1987. Pollen time series and Holocene climate variability of the Midwest United States. In: Abrupt Climatic Change - Evidence and Implications, W.H. Berger and L.D. Labeyrie, eds., D. Reidel Publishing Co., Holland, pp. 137-143. |
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Studies Laboratory, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona Last updated
August 31, 2011
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