Scientists Look to Forecasting Droughts Like Hurricanes, with Paths of Destruction
It's a major natural disaster that slowly grows in one place and then moves across a region, gaining intensity and size. As it spreads, it destroys land, ruins agriculture, tears apart communities, and can kill people.
No, it's not a hurricane. It's a drought.
Researchers are just beginning to view droughts as this type of dynamic force, and some hope that soon they will be monitored similarly to hurricanes - with scientists able to predict their development and forecast their paths, helping to protect those living in their path.
Some 10 percent of droughts travel between 1,400 to 3,100 kilometres from where they begin, according to a recent study.
The study, which analysed 1,420 droughts between 1979 and 2009, identified "hotspots" around the world and common directions in which droughts move.
Some droughts in the southwest United States, for example, tend to move from south to north. In Argentina, they usually migrate the opposite direction. In Central Africa, droughts tend to go southeastern toward the coast.
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