The asymmetric impact of global warming on US drought types and distributions in a large ensemble of 97 hydro-climatic simulations.

ABSTRACT: Projection of future drought is often involved large uncertainties from climate models, emission scenarios as well as drought definitions. In this study, we investigate changes in future droughts in the conterminous United States based on 97 1/8 degree hydro-climate model projections. Instead of focusing on a specific drought type, we investigate changes in meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological drought as well as the concurrences. Agricultural and hydrological droughts are projected to become more frequent with increase in global mean temperature, while less meteorological drought is expected. Changes in drought intensity scale linearly with global temperature rises under RCP8.5 scenario, indicating the potential feasibility to derive future drought severity given certain global w

SUBMITTER: Huang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5517487 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature