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Southwest: Drought Timeline
Colorado River flow has been reconstructed back over 1200 years based primarily on tree-ring data. These data reveal that some droughts in the past have been more severe and longer lasting than any experienced in the last 100 years. The red line indicates actual measurements of river flow during the last 100 years. Models indicate that, in the future, droughts will continue to occur, but will become hotter, and thus more severe, over time.1 Image Source: after Meko et al.2
References
- 1. [90] Meehl, G. A., T. F. Stocker, W. D. Collins, P. Friedlingstein, A. T. Gaye, JM Gregory, A. Kitoh, R. Knutti, J. M. Murphy, A. Noda et al. "Global Climate Projections." In Climate Change 2007: The Physical Basis, edited by S. Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K. B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H. L. Miller, 747-845. Vol. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- 2. [453] Meko, D. M., CA Woodhouse, C. A. Baisan, T. Knight, J. J. Lukas, M. K. Hughes, and M. W. Salzer. "Medieval Drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin." Geophysical Research Letters 34 (2007): -.
Summary
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