NASA scientists have an explanation for one of the worst climatic events in the history of the United States, the "Dust Bowl" drought, which devastated the Great Plains and all but dried up an already depressed American economy in the 1930's,according to an agency press release on March 19.
Combining computer modeling with modern satellite data to examine weather patterns during the last 100 years, researchers discovered that in the 1930s tropical temperatures were cooler than normal in the Pacific and warmer than normal in the Atlantic. That seemingly moderate change wreaked havoc with the Great Plains for eight years.
Rainfall in the Great Plains is driven by Gulf Stream winds carrying a supply of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. The shifts in tropical temperatures caused that portion of the wind patters to shift south, taking the rainfall with it, and generating "the major climatic event in the nation's history," said researcher Siegfried Schubert of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Scientists hope to use this sort of model to predict future events such as droughts, but what's also notable about it is that it again shows how moderate changes in the overall climate can be devastating to particular regions. I already mentioned how a different small change could plunge northern Europe into a long period of frigid temperatures. This is just another example of the risks we run.
"If we don't change course, we'll end up where we're headed" is an old peace movement slogan. The changes needed are dramatic - but, since they would also involve reducing reliance on fossil fuels for power and thus reduce the urge to keep being an imperialist goon in the Middle East, they could improve our political security as well as our environmental security.
Gee, I thought those in charge of public policy liked win-win situations. What could be holding them back in this case, I wonder....
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