drought
Sign in to saveA drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions. A drought can last for days, months or years. Drought often has large impacts on the ecosystems and agriculture of affected regions, and causes harm to the local economy. Annual dry seasons in the tropics significantly increase the chances of a drought developing, with subsequent increased wildfire risks. Heat waves can significantly worsen drought conditions by increasing evapotranspiration. This dries out forests and other vegetation, and increases the amount of fuel for wildfires.
AI overview
A drought is an extended period of drier-than-normal conditions that can last anywhere from days to years. Droughts matter because they can cause significant damage to ecosystems and agriculture, harm local economies, and increase the risk of wildfires—especially when combined with heat waves that dry out vegetation.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
26 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Categories
- Indices and monitoring
- Causes
- General precipitation deficiency
- Dry season
- El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
- Climate change{{anchor|Climatic_changes}}
- Vegetation changes, erosion and human activities
- Impacts
- Environmental and economic impacts
- Agricultural impacts
- Social and health impacts
- Loss of fertile soils
- Regions particularly affected
- Amazon basin
- Australia
- East Africa
- Himalayan river basins
- North America
- By country or region
- Protection, mitigation and relief
- History
- See also
- References
- External links
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions. A drought can last for days, months or years. Drought often has large impacts on the ecosystems and agriculture of affected regions, and causes harm to the local economy. Annual dry seasons in the tropics significantly increase the chances of a drought developing, with subsequent increased wildfire risks. Heat waves can significantly worsen drought conditions by increasing evapotranspiration. This dries out forests and other vegetation, and increases the amount of fuel for wildfires.
Drought is a recurring feature of the climate in most parts of the world, becoming more extreme and less predictable due to climate change, which dendrochronological studies date back to 1900. There are three kinds of drought effects, environmental, economic and social. Environmental effects include the drying of wetlands, more and larger wildfires, loss of biodiversity.