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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- | |
| Mideast just experienced worst drought in 900 years – NASA | |
| 2016-03-06 | |
[IsraelTimes] Scientists examining tree rings suggest unprecedented 14-year dry spell that ended in 2012 helped spark Syrian war
NASA’s researchers examined records of rings of trees in several Mediterranean countries to determine patterns of dry and wet years across a span of nine centuries. They concluded that the years from 1998 to 2012 were drier than any other period, and that the drought was likely caused by humans. The study’s lead author Ben Cook said the range of extreme weather events in the eastern Mediterranean has varied widely in the past nine centuries, but the past two decades stand out. "This recent drought falls outside the range of natural variability," he said. Drought has continued in parts of the Middle East, he added. Cook is a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City. The researchers used records of tree rings in Northern Africa, Greece, Leb, Jordan, Syria and ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , and combined the data with records from Spain, southern La Belle France and Italia to examine patterns of drought across time in the region. They studied rings of trees, both living and dead, that were sampled all over the region. Rings in the trunks of trees represent years. Thin rings indicate dry years; thick rings show years when water was abundant. Cook said the research supported other studies indicating human causes of extreme climate events. Last year, researchers at Columbia University and the University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Santa Barbara found that drought triggered a collapse in agriculture in Syria and the migration of 1.5 million farmers to the cities, straining resources. The water shortage was one of several contributing factors that had worsened the situation in Syria in the lead-up to the outbreak of that country’s devastating civil war in 2011. Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the NASA study is one of several worrying reports about unprecedented climate conditions. Mann was not involved in NASA’s study. In an e-mail to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, Mann noted that tree rings "have their limitations and uncertainties," but said "the authors have done a reasonable job in assessing the uncertainties." | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #12 Droughts and floods happen. Those that allow for that survive and thrive. Then those are arrogant and stupid just bumble along till they starve get murdered or get overthrown. Forrrrr example......the Saudis have pumped 80% of their aquifer's water away. Water stored since the ice age. They depend solely on oil for their wealth with some investments. They have royals and commoners to support, with a populace with a poor work ethic. And an Insh'allah religion to boot. You use your mind and make your own good news, or you leave it to the Fates. Take your choice and live with the consequences. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2016-03-06 15:51 |
| #11 You're welcome, Whiskey Mike. We've been following the drought in the Middle East since 2005. See archived articles about Syria here. One needn't believe in catastophic anthropogenic climate change to see that droughts and floods happen, and that when they go on for years, farmers will be forced off the land. And that desperate people in large numbers are tinder awaiting a spark. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2016-03-06 12:51 |
| #10 Good link! TY TW. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2016-03-06 12:15 |
| #9 If Mann is involved I suspect the data. And note how carefully they avoid explaining just how humans caused the drought. The Middle East isn't all that industrialized. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2016-03-06 11:55 |
| #8 And yes, the farmers did move to the city to look for work. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2016-03-06 11:42 |
| #7 Michael Mann has become a denialist. Or at least he's surrendered to the idea that the pause is real. Link |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2016-03-06 11:41 |
| #6 "I'm really thirsty and we're all out of Zam Zam Cola. We should overthrow the Gubbamint!" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2016-03-06 10:55 |
| #5 ".... helped spark Syrian war..." yeah, that probably contributed 0.01% of the causation |
| Posted by: lord garth 2016-03-06 10:38 |
| #4 Rain and temperatures too! I wonder if tree rings know where Judge Crater went too? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2016-03-06 09:07 |
| #3 Is commenter #2 a Michael Mann sock puppet? |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2016-03-06 05:57 |
| #2 Did 1.5 million farmers move to cities or not? Answer that poster #1. |
| Posted by: Don Vito Whuth8374 2016-03-06 00:32 |
| #1 "the authors have done a reasonable job in assessing the uncertainties." - Yeah, we sent Rocco and Vinnie over to "explain" to him how unpredictable "uncertainties" could be, especially when there is grant money involved. |
| Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 2016-03-06 00:13 |