Droughts, as a research topic, encompass the characterization, drivers, impacts, and prediction of prolonged periods of abnormally low water availability in the atmosphere, soil, and hydrological systems. Scientific study distinguishes meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and socio-economic droughts, often quantified using indices such as the Standardized Precipitation Index or Palmer Drought Severity Index. Research investigates land–atmosphere feedbacks, large-scale circulation anomalies, soil moisture deficits, vegetation stress, and groundwater depletion, as well as the modulation of drought frequency, duration, and intensity by climate variability and anthropogenic climate change, with implications for water resources management, ecosystem functioning, and risk assessment.
More than 80 countries face chronic drought, yet only a third have systems in place to act before a drought arrives rather than after. The gap is costly. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, ...
Environment
Aug 24, 2026
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Forest and land fires across Indonesia have spiked once again. News and social media in the country are flooded with images of thick plumes of smoke from Kalimantan (or Borneo)—the world's third-largest island—that are choking ...
Environment
Aug 24, 2026
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Europe saw at least 30,000 excess deaths across a blistering summer of back-to-back heat waves and drought that scientists have blamed on man-made climate change, according to provisional figures.
Environment
Aug 22, 2026
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Bread, pasta and breakfast cereals may seem far removed from dry fields in North America, Europe or Asia. Yet when water shortages hit several of the world's most important wheat-growing regions simultaneously, the consequences ...
Ecology
Aug 21, 2026
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This year's El Niño is on track to be the strongest on record, threatening to unleash extreme weather across the globe and make 2027 the hottest recorded year by far.
Environment
Aug 21, 2026
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The Panama Canal will cut the number of ships passing through it starting next month because of drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon, the operator of the strategic waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific said Thursday.
Environment
Aug 21, 2026
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Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide is boosting grass growth in Africa's water-limited savannas, according to a new study led by the University of Sheffield.
Environment
Aug 20, 2026
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Exceptionally low river levels in a Europe hit hard by drought and record heat have plunged transporters into turmoil this summer, driving up costs that everyday consumers could end up bearing.
Environment
Aug 20, 2026
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Europe's deadly, record-breaking summer heat waves sent temperatures above 40°C (104°F) in areas inhabited by 80 million people from mid-June to mid-August, according to official data analyzed by AFP, with many of those areas ...
Environment
Aug 20, 2026
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Recurring and prolonged periods of drought are worsening worldwide, triggering a dangerous chain reaction for trees, according to a forest health expert at North Carolina State University.
Plants & Animals
Aug 20, 2026
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