‘Megadrought’ Pattern Discovered by Researchers

Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of New Mexico and other institutions drill beneath South Mountain Lake in the Valles Caldera National Preserve to uncover a history of climate conditions as they existed between 360,000 and 550,000 years ago.

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have indicated that the Southwestern U.S. goes through periodic warming periods lasting hundreds to thousands of years. These “megadroughts” were the topic of a paper that the scientists recently published in the journal Nature.

The researchers further indicated that the current climate in that region of the country may be one such megadrought. If that is the case, the future in that area may be much cooler and wetter than what people are accustomed to. Global warming and increased CO₂ emissions could have an impact on exactly how or when the change takes place.

 The researchers based their findings on core samples taken from deep below a dry lake bed which sits atop a dormant prehistoric volcano in the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Based on the depth of the samples and dating techniques, the researchers estimate that the climate data they are collecting is from 360,000 to 550,000 years ago.

“Results from this study have implications for the development of models that could predict future megadroughts and other climate conditions in the Southwestern United States,” said Jeffrey Heikoop, leader of the Los Alamos study team.

The current climate in the region appears to have existed for about 10,000 years. Before that time, the region was wetter and cooler as part of the last ice age. The data suggests that this is part of a regular cycle and will likely continue to repeat itself.