• Anthropogenic change

    • Increasing risk of Amazonian drought due to decreasing aerosol pollution

      • Peter M. Cox, Phil P. Harris, Chris Huntingford, Richard A. Betts, Matthew Collins, Chris D. Jones, Tim E. Jupp, José A. Marengo, Carlos A. Nobre,
      • Original article citation: Nature 453," 212 - 215, (2008).
      • Categories: Anthropogenic change, Regional Climate, and Climate Prediction
      • Recommended by: Anna Barnett on 05/08/2008 04:17PM GMT
      • Reasons for recommending:
        Here's an example of irony unleashed when atmospheric aerosols are incorporated into climate models to improve their precision. Cox et al. find that adding in pollution particles makes for unusually accurate simulations of recent climatic conditions affecting the Amazon - and they use these simulations to predict that cleaner air in future will mean more frequent droughts for the rainforest. Quirin Sciermeier has more to say about this on the Climate Feedback blog: http://blogs.nature.com/climatefeedback/

Comments

Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.

Add your own comment

You can be as critical or controversial as you like, but please don't get personal or offensive, and do keep it brief. Remember this is for feedback and discussion - not for publishing papers, press releases or advertisements, for example.

You need to be registered with Nature to leave a comment. Please log in or register as a new user. You will be re-directed back to this page.

site resources

search & explore