A study led by a UC Riverside atmospheric scientist predicts that unchecked carbon emissions will force tropical rains to shift northward in the coming decades, which would profoundly impact agriculture and economies near the Earth's equator.
A study led by a UC Riverside atmospheric scientist predicts that unchecked carbon emissions will force tropical rains to shift northward in the coming decades, which would profoundly impact agriculture and economies near the Earth's equator.
The northward rain shift would be caused by complex changes in the atmosphere spurred by carbon emissions that influence the formation of the intertropical convergence zones. Those zones are essentially atmospheric engines that drive about a third of the world’s precipitation, Liu and his co-authors report in a paper published Friday, June 28, in the journal “Nature Climate Change."
Tropical regions on either side the equator, such as central African nations, northern South America, and Pacific island states, among other regions, would be the most affected. Major crops grown in the tropics include coffee, cocoa, palm oil, bananas, sugarcane, tea, mangoes, and pineapples.
However, the northward shift will last for only about 20 years before greater forces stemming from warming southern oceans pull the convergence zones back southward and keep them there for another millennium, said Wei Liu, an associate professor of climate change and sustainability at UCR’s College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.
Read more at University of California - Riverside
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