Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Drought hit Soils of U.K.and Europe rapidly drying out
by Staff Writers
Paris (UPI) May 9, 2011
Satellite measurements show that soils of Britain and Europe are
drying out from record low rainfall in the region this spring,
researchers say.
The European Space Agency Smos satellite has been gathering
information being analyzed by meteorologists, hydrologists and
other scientists, the BBC reported Monday.
Last month was the warmest April on record in Britain, with less
than half normal rainfall, the BBC said.
When soils are dry, water available for evaporation is limited and
incoming solar energy will warm the surface, raising the
temperatures above it.
Over a sustained period, this can lead to drought conditions,
scientists said.
Some studies of the massive European heat wave of summer 2003
suggest if meteorologists had more information about the relative
dryness of soils in the springtime, they could have been able to
better predict the extreme conditions that followed a few months
later, researchers said.
Meteorologists at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather
Forecasts, based at Reading in the United Kingdom, welcomed the
new data.
"We already have soil moisture data in our forecast system which
does not use Smos, and our soil moisture data is already quite
good," center director Patricia de Rosnay said.
"But there is potential to improve it with Smos."