The current drought affecting much of the Middle East is likely the worst drought in almost a millenium, according to NASA researchers.
A NASA study published in March found that the drought that began in 1998 in the region including Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey, is 10-20 percent drier than any other period of low rainfall the region has seen in 900 years.
NASA scientists studied tree rings to assess how severe past droughts have been. Thing rings indicate dry years while thick rings show years with more rainfall, the agency said. NASA’s researchers looked at tree ring samples from areas including northern Africa, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.
The researchers also uncovered patterns in the geographic distribution of droughts in the region, which it plans to compare to the natural variation of regional droughts. This will allow the agency to examine the impact of climate change on the rainfall.
NASA published a press release detailing some of its findings on March 1. You can read it here.
Not only is drought bad for the environment and for agriculture, it can also destabilize entire countries and lead to government collapse.
For example, the war in Syria—which has reportedly killed almost 12 percent of the population, and made millions of others homeless—is thought to have been caused partly by a drought that forced rural peasants to move to the cities, where swelling populations and high unemployment created a tinder box that exploded when regime forces began using violence to quell popular protests.
—Hunter Stuart
