Droughts, combined with policy ... The Damajipant famine is said to have caused ruin both in the northern and southern parts of the Deccan. ... Farmers' suicides; Labour;
Drought
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A
drought is a period of below-average precipitation in a
given region, resulting in prolonged shortages in its water supply,
whether atmospheric,
surface water or
ground water. A drought can last for months or years, or may be declared after as few as 15 days.
[1] It can have a substantial impact on the
ecosystem and
agriculture of the affected region
[2] and harm to the local
economy.
[3] Annual dry seasons in the
tropics
significantly increase the chances of a drought developing and
subsequent bush fires. Periods of heat can significantly worsen drought
conditions by hastening evaporation of
water vapor.
Many plant species, such as those in the family Cactaceae (or
cacti),
have adaptations like reduced leaf area and waxy cuticles to enhance
their ability to tolerate drought. Some others survive dry periods as
buried seeds. Semi-permanent drought produces arid biomes such as
deserts and grasslands.
[4] Prolonged droughts have caused
mass migrations
and humanitarian crises. Most arid ecosystems have inherently low
productivity. The most prolonged drought ever in the world in
recorded history occurred in the
Atacama Desert in
Chile (400 Years).
Causes
Precipitation deficiency
Ancient Meso-American civilizations may have amplified droughts by deforestation.
Mechanisms of producing precipitation include
convective,
stratiform,
[5] and
orographic rainfall.
[6] Convective processes
involve strong vertical motions that can cause the overturning of the
atmosphere in that location within an hour and cause heavy
precipitation,
[7] while stratiform processes involve weaker upward motions and less intense precipitation over a longer duration.
[8]
Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it
falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the
surface, or ice.
If these factors do not support precipitation volumes sufficient to
reach the surface over a sufficient time, the result is a drought.
Drought can be triggered by a high level of reflected sunlight and above
average prevalence of high
pressure systems,
winds carrying continental, rather than oceanic air masses, and ridges of
high pressure areas
aloft can prevent or restrict the developing of thunderstorm activity
or rainfall over one certain region. Once a region is within drought,
feedback mechanisms such as local arid air,
[9] hot conditions which can promote warm core ridging,
[10] and minimal evapotranspiration can worsen drought conditions.
Dry season
Within the tropics, distinct,
wet and dry
seasons emerge due to the movement of the
Intertropical Convergence Zone or
Monsoon trough.
[11] The dry season greatly increases drought occurrence,
[12]
and is characterized by its low humidity, with watering holes and
rivers drying up. Because of the lack of these watering holes, many
grazing animals are forced to migrate due to the lack of water and feed
to more fertile spots. Examples of such animals are
zebras,
elephants,
[13] and
wildebeest. Because of the lack of water in the plants, bushfires are common.
[14]
Since water vapor becomes more energetic with increasing temperature,
more water vapor is required to increase relative humidity values to
100% at higher temperatures (or to get the temperature to fall to the
dew point).
[15] Periods of warmth quicken the pace of fruit and vegetable production,
[16] increase evaporation and transpiration from plants,
[17] and worsen drought conditions.
[18]
El Niño
Regional impacts of warm ENSO episodes (
El Niño)
Drier and hotter weather occurs in parts of the
Amazon River Basin,
Colombia, and
Central America
during El Niño events. Winters during the El Niño are warmer and drier
than average conditions in the Northwest, northern Midwest, and northern
Mideast United States, so those regions experience reduced snowfalls.
Conditions are also drier than normal from December to February in
south-central Africa, mainly in
Zambia,
Zimbabwe,
Mozambique, and
Botswana. Direct effects of El Niño resulting in drier conditions occur in parts of
Southeast Asia and
Northern Australia, increasing
bush fires, worsening
haze, and decreasing air quality dramatically. Drier-than-normal conditions are also in general observed in
Queensland, inland
Victoria, inland
New South Wales, and eastern
Tasmania from June to August. As warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the
Indian Ocean
to the east Pacific, it causes extensive drought in the western
Pacific. Singapore experienced the driest February in 2014 since records
began in 1869, with only 6.3 mm of rain falling in the month and
temperatures hitting as high as 35 °C on 26 February. The years 1968 and
2005 had the next driest Februaries, when 8.4 mm of rain fell.
[19]
Erosion and human activities
Human activity can directly trigger exacerbating factors such as over farming, excessive irrigation,
[20] deforestation, and
erosion adversely impact the ability of the land to capture and hold water.
[21] In arid climates, the main source of erosion is wind.
[22]
Erosion can be the result of material movement by the wind. The wind
can cause small particles to be lifted and therefore moved to another
region (deflation). Suspended particles within the wind may impact on
solid objects causing erosion by abrasion (ecological succession). Wind
erosion generally occurs in areas with little or no vegetation, often in
areas where there is insufficient rainfall to support vegetation.
[23]
Loess is a homogeneous, typically nonstratified, porous,
friable, slightly coherent, often calcareous, fine-grained,
silty, pale yellow or buff, windblown (Aeolian)
sediment.
[24]
It generally occurs as a widespread blanket deposit that covers areas
of hundreds of square kilometers and tens of meters thick. Loess often
stands in either steep or vertical faces.
[25]
Loess tends to develop into highly rich soils. Under appropriate
climatic conditions, areas with loess are among the most agriculturally
productive in the world.
[26]
Loess deposits are geologically unstable by nature, and will erode very
readily. Therefore, windbreaks (such as big trees and bushes) are often
planted by farmers to reduce the wind erosion of loess.
[22] Wind erosion is much more severe in arid areas and during times of drought. For example, in the
Great Plains, it is estimated that soil loss due to wind erosion can be as much as 6100 times greater in drought years than in wet years.
[27]
Climate change
Activities resulting in global
climate change are expected to trigger droughts with a
substantial impact on agriculture[28][29] throughout the world, and especially in
developing nations.
[30][31][32] Overall, global warming will result in increased world rainfall.
[33] Along with drought in some areas, flooding and erosion will increase in others. Paradoxically, some proposed
solutions to global warming that focus on more active techniques,
solar radiation management through the use of a
space sunshade for one, may also carry with them increased chances of drought.
[34]
Types
As a drought persists, the conditions surrounding it gradually worsen
and its impact on the local population gradually increases. People tend
to define droughts in three main ways:
[35]
- Meteorological
drought is brought about when there is a prolonged time with less than
average precipitation. Meteorological drought usually precedes the other
kinds of drought.[36]
- Agricultural droughts are droughts that affect crop production or the ecology of the range. This condition can also arise independently from any change in precipitation levels when soil
conditions and erosion triggered by poorly planned agricultural
endeavors cause a shortfall in water available to the crops. However, in
a traditional drought, it is caused by an extended period of below
average precipitation.[37]
- Hydrological drought is brought about when the water reserves available in sources such as aquifers, lakes and reservoirs fall below the statistical average.
Hydrological drought tends to show up more slowly because it involves
stored water that is used but not replenished. Like an agricultural
drought, this can be triggered by more than just a loss of rainfall. For
instance, Kazakhstan was recently[when?] awarded a large amount of money by the World Bank to restore water that had been diverted to other nations from the Aral Sea under Soviet rule.[38] Similar circumstances also place their largest lake, Balkhash, at risk of completely drying out.[39]
Consequences
A livestock carcass in
Marsabit, in northern
Kenya, which has suffered prolonged drought.
Time of droughts can have significant environmental, agricultural,
health, economic and social consequences. The effect varies according to
vulnerability. For example, subsistence farmers are more likely to
migrate during drought because they do not have alternative food
sources. Areas with populations that depend on water sources as a major
food source are more vulnerable to famine.
Drought can also reduce water quality,
[40][41] because lower water flows reduce dilution of pollutants and increase
contamination of remaining water sources. Common consequences of drought include:
- Diminished crop growth or yield productions and carrying capacity for livestock
- Dust bowls, themselves a sign of erosion, which further erode the landscape
- Dust storms, when drought hits an area suffering from desertification and erosion
- Famine due to lack of water for irrigation
- Habitat damage, affecting both terrestrial and aquatic wildlife[42]
- Hunger, drought provides too little water to support food crops.
- Malnutrition, dehydration and related diseases
- Mass migration, resulting in internal displacement and international refugees
- Reduced electricity production due to reduced water flow through hydroelectric dams[43]
- Shortages of water for industrial users[44][45]
- Snake migration, which results in snakebites[46]
- Social unrest
- War over natural resources, including water and food
- Wildfires, such as Australian bushfires, are more common during times of drought and even death of people.[47]
- Exposure and oxidation of acid sulfate soils due to falling surface and groundwater levels.[48][49][50]
Globally
Drought is a normal, recurring feature of the climate in most parts
of the world. It is among the earliest documented climatic events,
present in the
Epic of Gilgamesh and tied to the
biblical story of
Joseph's arrival in and the later
Exodus from
Ancient Egypt.
[51] Hunter-gatherer migrations in 9,500 BC Chile have been linked to the phenomenon,
[52] as has the exodus of early humans
out of Africa and into the rest of the world around 135,000 years ago.
[53]
A South Dakota farm during the
Dust Bowl, 1936
Examples
Well-known historical droughts include:
- 1900 India killing between 250,000 and 3.25 million.
- 1921–22 Soviet Union in which over 5 million perished from starvation due to drought
- 1928–30 Northwest China resulting in over 3 million deaths by famine.
- 1936 and 1941 Sichuan Province China resulting in 5 million and 2.5 million deaths respectively.
- The 1997–2009 Millennium Drought
in Australia led to a water supply crisis across much of the country.
As a result, many desalination plants were built for the first time (see list).
- In 2006, Sichuan Province China experienced its worst drought in
modern times with nearly 8 million people and over 7 million cattle
facing water shortages.
- 12-year drought that was devastating southwest Western Australia,
southeast South Australia, Victoria and northern Tasmania was "very
severe and without historical precedent".
The Darfur conflict in
Sudan, also affecting
Chad, was fueled by decades of drought; combination of drought,
desertification and
overpopulation are among the causes of the Darfur conflict, because the
Arab Baggara nomads searching for water have to take their livestock further south, to land mainly occupied by non-Arab farming people.
[54]
Approximately 2.4 billion people live in the
drainage basin of the Himalayan rivers.
[55] India,
China,
Pakistan,
Bangladesh,
Nepal and
Myanmar could experience floods followed by droughts in coming decades.
Drought in India affecting the Ganges is of particular concern, as it provides
drinking water and agricultural
irrigation for more than 500 million people.
[56][57][58] The west coast of
North America, which gets much of its water from glaciers in mountain ranges such as the
Rocky Mountains and
Sierra Nevada, also would be affected.
[59][60]
In 2005, parts of the
Amazon basin experienced the worst drought in 100 years.
[61][62] A 23 July 2006 article reported
Woods Hole Research Center results showing that the forest in its present form could survive only three years of drought.
[63][64] Scientists at the Brazilian
National Institute of Amazonian Research argue in the article that this drought response, coupled with the effects of
deforestation on regional climate, are pushing the rainforest towards a "
tipping point" where it would irreversibly start to die. It concludes that the
rainforest is on the brink of being turned into
savanna or
desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate. According to the
WWF, the combination of
climate change and deforestation increases the drying effect of dead trees that fuels forest fires.
[65]
Lake Chad in a 2001 satellite image. The lake has shrunk by 95% since the 1960s.
[66][67]
By far the largest part of
Australia is
desert or semi-arid lands commonly known as the
outback.
A 2005 study by Australian and American researchers investigated the
desertification of the interior, and suggested that one explanation was
related to
human settlers who arrived about 50,000 years ago. Regular burning by these settlers could have prevented
monsoons from reaching interior Australia.
[68]
In June 2008 it became known that an expert panel had warned of long
term, maybe irreversible, severe ecological damage for the whole
Murray-Darling basin if it did not receive sufficient water by October 2008.
[69]
Australia could experience more severe droughts and they could become
more frequent in the future, a government-commissioned report said on
July 6, 2008.
[70] Australian environmentalist
Tim Flannery, predicted that unless it made drastic changes,
Perth in
Western Australia could become the world’s first
ghost metropolis, an abandoned city with no more water to sustain its population.
[71] The long Australian
Millennial drought broke in 2010.
Recurring droughts leading to
desertification in
East Africa have created grave ecological catastrophes, prompting food shortages in
1984–85,
2006 and
2011.
[72] During the 2011 drought, an estimated 50,000 to 150,000 people were reported to have died,
[73] though these figures and the extent of the crisis are disputed.
[74] In February 2012, the UN announced that the crisis was over due to a scaling up of relief efforts and a bumper harvest.
[75]
Aid agencies subsequently shifted their emphasis to recovery efforts,
including digging irrigation canals and distributing plant seeds.
[75]
In 2012, a severe
drought struck the western
Sahel. The
Methodist Relief & Development Fund (MRDF)
reported that more than 10 million people in the region were at risk of
famine due to a month-long heat wave that was hovering over
Niger,
Mali,
Mauritania and
Burkina Faso. A fund of about £20,000 was distributed to the drought-hit countries.
[76]
Protection, mitigation and relief
Succulent plants are well-adapted to survive long periods of drought.
Agriculturally, people can effectively mitigate much of the impact of
drought through irrigation and crop rotation. Failure to develop
adequate drought mitigation strategies carries a grave human cost in the
modern era, exacerbated by
ever-increasing
population densities. President Roosevelt on April 27, 1935, signed
documents creating the Soil Conservation Service (SCS)—now the Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Models of the law were sent to
each state where they were enacted. These were the first enduring
practical programs to curtail future susceptibility to drought, creating
agencies that first began to stress soil conservation measures to
protect farm lands today. It was not until the 1950s that there was an
importance placed on water conservation was put into the existing laws
(NRCS 2014).
[77]
Aerosols over the Amazon each September for four burning seasons (2005 through 2008) during the
Amazon basin drought. The aerosol scale (yellow to dark reddish-brown) indicates the relative amount of particles that absorb sunlight.
Strategies for drought protection, mitigation or relief include:
- Dams - many dams and their associated reservoirs supply additional water in times of drought.[78]
- Cloud seeding - a form of intentional weather modification to induce rainfall.[79] This remains a hotly debated topic, as the United States National Research Council
released a report in 2004 stating that to date, there is still no
convincing scientific proof of the efficacy of intentional weather
modification.[80]
- Desalination - of sea water for irrigation or consumption.[81]
- Drought monitoring - Continuous observation of rainfall levels and
comparisons with current usage levels can help prevent man-made drought.
For instance, analysis of water usage in Yemen has revealed that their water table (underground water level) is put at grave risk by over-use to fertilize their Khat crop.[82] Careful monitoring of moisture levels can also help predict increased risk for wildfires, using such metrics as the Keetch-Byram Drought Index[47] or Palmer Drought Index.
- Land use - Carefully planned crop rotation can help to minimize erosion and allow farmers to plant less water-dependent crops in drier years.
- Outdoor water-use restriction
- Regulating the use of sprinklers, hoses or buckets on outdoor plants,
filling pools, and other water-intensive home maintenance tasks. Xeriscaping yards can significantly reduce unnecessary water use by residents of towns and cities.
- Rainwater harvesting - Collection and storage of rainwater from roofs or other suitable catchments.
- Recycled water - Former wastewater (sewage) that has been treated and purified for reuse.
- Transvasement - Building canals or redirecting rivers as massive attempts at irrigation in drought-prone areas.
See also
References
A drought is a period of below-average precipitation in a given region, resulting in prolonged shortages in its water supply, whether atmospheric, surface water or ground water. A drought can last for months or years, or may be declared after as few as 15 days.[1] It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region[2] and harm to the local economy.[3] Annual dry seasons in the tropics significantly increase the chances of a drought developing and subsequent bush fires. Periods of heat can significantly worsen drought conditions by hastening evaporation of water vapor.Contraction/Desiccation cracks in dry earth (Sonoran desert, Mexico).
Within the tropics, distinct, wet and dry seasons emerge due to the movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone or Monsoon trough.[11] The dry season greatly increases drought occurrence,[12] and is characterized by its low humidity, with watering holes and rivers drying up. Because of the lack of these watering holes, many grazing animals are forced to migrate due to the lack of water and feed to more fertile spots. Examples of such animals are zebras, elephants,[13] and wildebeest. Because of the lack of water in the plants, bushfires are common.[14] Since water vapor becomes more energetic with increasing temperature, more water vapor is required to increase relative humidity values to 100% at higher temperatures (or to get the temperature to fall to the dew point).[15] Periods of warmth quicken the pace of fruit and vegetable production,[16] increase evaporation and transpiration from plants,[17] and worsen drought conditions.[18]Sheep on a drought affected paddock near Uranquinty, New South Wales.
Regional impacts of warm ENSO episodes (El Niño)See also: El NiñoDrier and hotter weather occurs in parts of the Amazon River Basin, Colombia, and Central America during El Niño events. Winters during the El Niño are warmer and drier than average conditions in the Northwest, northern Midwest, and northern Mideast United States, so those regions experience reduced snowfalls. Conditions are also drier than normal from December to February in south-central Africa, mainly in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Botswana. Direct effects of El Niño resulting in drier conditions occur in parts of Southeast Asia and Northern Australia, increasing bush fires, worsening haze, and decreasing air quality dramatically. Drier-than-normal conditions are also in general observed in Queensland, inland Victoria, inland New South Wales, and eastern Tasmania from June to August. As warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific, it causes extensive drought in the western Pacific. Singapore experienced the driest February in 2014 since records began in 1869, with only 6.3 mm of rain falling in the month and temperatures hitting as high as 35 °C on 26 February. The years 1968 and 2005 had the next driest Februaries, when 8.4 mm of rain fell.[19]
Human activity can directly trigger exacerbating factors such as over farming, excessive irrigation,[20] deforestation, and erosion adversely impact the ability of the land to capture and hold water.[21] In arid climates, the main source of erosion is wind.[22] Erosion can be the result of material movement by the wind. The wind can cause small particles to be lifted and therefore moved to another region (deflation). Suspended particles within the wind may impact on solid objects causing erosion by abrasion (ecological succession). Wind erosion generally occurs in areas with little or no vegetation, often in areas where there is insufficient rainfall to support vegetation.[23]Fires on Borneo and Sumatra, 2006. People use slash-and-burn deforestation to clear land for agriculture.
Loess is a homogeneous, typically nonstratified, porous, friable, slightly coherent, often calcareous, fine-grained, silty, pale yellow or buff, windblown (Aeolian) sediment.[24] It generally occurs as a widespread blanket deposit that covers areas of hundreds of square kilometers and tens of meters thick. Loess often stands in either steep or vertical faces.[25] Loess tends to develop into highly rich soils. Under appropriate climatic conditions, areas with loess are among the most agriculturally productive in the world.[26] Loess deposits are geologically unstable by nature, and will erode very readily. Therefore, windbreaks (such as big trees and bushes) are often planted by farmers to reduce the wind erosion of loess.[22] Wind erosion is much more severe in arid areas and during times of drought. For example, in the Great Plains, it is estimated that soil loss due to wind erosion can be as much as 6100 times greater in drought years than in wet years.[27]Fields outside Benambra, Victoria, Australia suffering from drought conditions.
A Mongolian gazelle dead due to drought.Time of droughts can have significant environmental, agricultural, health, economic and social consequences. The effect varies according to vulnerability. For example, subsistence farmers are more likely to migrate during drought because they do not have alternative food sources. Areas with populations that depend on water sources as a major food source are more vulnerable to famine.
A South Dakota farm during the Dust Bowl, 1936
The Darfur conflict in Sudan, also affecting Chad, was fueled by decades of drought; combination of drought, desertification and overpopulation are among the causes of the Darfur conflict, because the Arab Baggara nomads searching for water have to take their livestock further south, to land mainly occupied by non-Arab farming people.[54]Affected areas in the western Sahel belt during the 2012 drought.
Succulent plants are well-adapted to survive long periods of drought.
Agriculturally, people can effectively mitigate much of the impact of drought through irrigation and crop rotation. Failure to develop adequate drought mitigation strategies carries a grave human cost in the modern era, exacerbated by ever-increasing population densities. President Roosevelt on April 27, 1935, signed documents creating the Soil Conservation Service (SCS)—now the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Models of the law were sent to each state where they were enacted. These were the first enduring practical programs to curtail future susceptibility to drought, creating agencies that first began to stress soil conservation measures to protect farm lands today. It was not until the 1950s that there was an importance placed on water conservation was put into the existing laws (NRCS 2014).[77]Water distribution on Marshall Islands during El Niño.
Strategies for drought protection, mitigation or relief include:Aerosols over the Amazon each September for four burning seasons (2005 through 2008) during the Amazon basin drought. The aerosol scale (yellow to dark reddish-brown) indicates the relative amount of particles that absorb sunlight.
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