Fourth National Climate Assessment - Built Environment, Urban Systems, and Cities
Chapter 11 Built Environment, Urban Systems, and Cities, of the Fourth National Climate Assessment
Forested watershed
Forested watershed
Taxonomy Machine Name
strategy_forested_watershed
Taxonomy Alias
forested_watershed
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Fourth National Climate Assessment: Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity
Fourth National Climate Assessment. Chapter 7: Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity
Drought risk is expected to increase across the Midwest by the end of the century.
Multiple factors may contribute to increasing drought risk across the Midwest. Trends of higher temperatures, longer growing seasons, and more multi-day periods without rainfall may have compounding effects. Additionally, vapor pressure deficit (the difference between how much moisture is in the air and the amount of moisture the air can hold at saturation) is projected to increase by 20-80% by the end of the century across a range of climate scenarios. This will lead to a net drying effect as the air draws more moisture out of plants and soil.
Droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe across the Northern Great Plains.
Although more rainfall is expected overall, warming temperatures will increase evaporative demand, leading to more frequent and severe drought in the future. Some of the negative effects of drying may be offset by the increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, which can stimulate plant growth and increase water-use efficiency. Soil water availability during the growing season is expected to increase for the northern parts of this region, and decrease in southern parts.