Researchers used a network of tree-ring-based reconstructions of streamflow in the Upper Missouri River Basin to quantify the severity of droughts, going back to the year 800 CE, and found that the turn-of-the-century drought, ca. 2000-2010, was at its peak drier than any drought in the past 1,200 years; a marked decrease in runoff efficiency beginning in the mid-1980s, driven by increased warming, likely contributed to the extreme severity of this drought, according to the authors.
Article #19-16208: "Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States' largest river basin," by Justin T. Martin et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Justin T. Martin, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, United States Geological Survey, Bozeman, MT; tel: 406-994-5304, 707-499-8580; e-mail: justinmartin@usgs.gov
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences