Change of terrestrial aridity and drylands during 850-2100AD
Co-Author: Song Feng
Drylands occupy about 41 percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface and are home to more than a third of the world’s population. Knowledge of how anthropogenic climate change will affect the extent of global drylands is essential for water-resource and land-use management in these regions. We are using the Last Millennium Ensemble to examine how the terrestrial mean aridityresponds to natural and anthropogenic forcings during the last millennium, and also evaluate the areal extent of drylands from 850AD to the end of this century.