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This press release is copyright Nature. VOL.440 NO.7088 DATED 27 April 2006
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Climate change: Twentieth century wettest period in northern Pakistan
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[2] Climate change: Twentieth century wettest period in northern Pakistan (pp1179-1182; N&V)
The last century has seen a dramatic increase in snowfall in central Asia compared to the previous thousand years, according to research published in this week's Nature.
Global warming is thought to increase the moisture-holding capacity of the atmosphere, leading to more precipitation. But there are few studies that look at how precipitation varies over such long timescales.
Kerstin Treydte and colleagues base their conclusion on evidence in the rings of trees in northern Pakistan. Oxygen atoms found in water molecules absorbed by the trees are trapped in the cellulose of the wood. These oxygen atoms can have different masses, and more precipitation is associated with lower concentrations of the heaviest oxygen isotope.
Measurements of the relative proportions of oxygen isotopes in the wood can therefore be turned into a long-term precipitation record.
The recent hike in precipitation suggests that climate change is having a significant impact on the water cycle. "The highest precipitation anomalies observed by Treydte et al. have occurred in the last 150 years, approximately coincident with the Industrial Revolution and greenhouse gas increases," comments Michael N. Evans in a related News and Views article.
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