Farming and the risk of flash droughts

2023-11-29山东

疯狂英语·新悦读 2023年10期

山东顾芳

突发性干旱发展迅速，甚至可以摧毁一个地区的农业。

主题语境：自然环境篇幅：359词建议用时：7分钟

1Flash droughts develop fast, and when they hit at the wrong time, they can ruin a region's agriculture.They're also becoming increasingly common as the planet warms.In a study published in the journalCommunications Earth & Environment, we found that the risk of flash droughts, which can develop in the span of a few weeks, is on pace to rise in every major agricultural region around the world in the coming decades.

2In North America and Europe, cropland that had a 32% annual chance of a flash drought a few years ago could have a greater chance of a flash drought by the final decades of this century.That result would put food production, energy, and water supplies under increasing pressure.The cost of ravage will also rise.A flash drought in the Dakotas and Montana in 2017 caused $2.6 billion in agricultural damage in America alone.

3All droughts begin when rainfall stops.What's interesting about flash droughts is how fast they reinforce (加强) themselves, with some help from the warming climate.When the weather is hot and dry, soil loses moisture rapidly.Dry air extracts moisture from the land, and rising temperatures can increase this evaporative (蒸发的) demand.The lack of rain during a flash drought can further contribute to the feedback processes.Under these conditions, crops and vegetation begin to die much more quickly than they do during typical long-term droughts.

4In our study, we used climate models and data from the past 170 years to assess the drought risks ahead under three conditions for how quickly the world takes action to slow the pace of global warming.If greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants, and other human sources continue at a high rate, we found that cropland in much of North America and Europe would have a 53% annual chance of flash droughts, respectively, by the final decades of this century.Globally, the largest projected increases in flash droughts would be in Europe and the Amazon.Slowing emissions can reduce the risk significantly,but we found flash droughts would still increase by about 6% worldwide under lowemission conditions.