In the coming decades, droughts may be less frequent in Florida according to a new study by scientists that links slow, multi-decadal changes in North Atlantic Ocean temperatures to North American rainfall and river flows. But this study, slated for publication in the May issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, looks at North Atlantic sea surface temperature shifts between warm and cool phases that last two to four decades each. According to the scientists, central and south Florida receive more rainfall during multi-year periods when the North Atlantic is warm. For example, a 10-year average inflow to Lake Okeechobee during warm phases is 40 percent greater than for cool phases. For most of the past 30 years the North Atlantic has been cool and Florida has had less rainfall.
Current data suggest that a transition to warm conditions is under way.
The result may be less frequent droughts in Florida, but more frequent flooding. Arctic area ecological study to waterways across the nation. The finding could have important implications for land-use policies in watersheds from the Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast to Puget Sound in the West. Excess nitrogen can cause ecologically damaging effects in large waterways, include algeal blooms, because the nutrients are transported downstream and collect there. The federal government decided to limit irrigation-water supplies to hundreds of Oregon farmers living along the Klamath River to help endangered sucker fish and threatened salmon populations survive a drought.