According to researchers in the UK and China, recent decades have been the wettest in 3,500 years in Tibet. They studied tree rings and their spacing to determine which years are wetter and which are dryer. The data is based on samples from more than 1000 trees, and some of the trees have a lifespan of more than 2000 years. The trees have shown close correspondance with rain gauges, making them a suitable choice for conducting research on. The researchers have noticed a trend towards wider growth rings, suggesting that the climate is getting wetter and wetter. The importance of this information is that there could be a link to global warming, but the scientists don't want to jump to any conclusions. For the full article, click here.NOS Themes:
Science is collaborative - Researchers from the UK and from China teamed up for a common goal.
Importance of repeatability - Researchers took samples from over 1000 trees.
After doing some research, I found some information on why this is happening. (http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-effects/rain-and-snow.html) This article mentions that wet places get wetter and dry places get drier with the increase of carbon emissions in out atmosphere. This is because the rise in temperature makes atmospheric circulation much more intense. This atmospheric circulation determines where deserts and rain forests develop.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting topic to read about. This seems like a very well constructed experiment. This experiment was definitely controlled very well, because they took samples from over 1000 trees. That takes a huge amount of dedication.
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