Study: Some regions of Europe are currently drier than they have been in a thousand years.

We’re all being impacted by climate change. The problem facing humanity must be resolved immediately if we are to avoid endangering our very existence on the one and only planet we have. Parts of Spain and Portugal are drier than they have been in the past 1200 years, according to a research, which is the latest indication that the future is bleak.

The production of wine and olives in these two nations could be significantly impacted by the drier climate.

High atmospheric pressure is present in the Azores High, which travels clockwise over the Atlantic. In Europe, it is known as the ‘gatekeeper’ of precipitation. The Azores High is to blame for the winter rains across Europe. It sends westerly winds inwards into the continent and causes winter rain.

Researchers in the United States studied this occurrence, and their findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

According to the study, the high-pressure system known as the Azores High has undergone ‘dramatic shift in the previous century and that these changes in North Atlantic climate are unprecedented within the past millennium.’

This study made use of a simulation of a climate model. Climate information from the previous 1200 years was entered into the simulation. The simulation revealed that as greenhouse gas emissions rose over the past 200 years, the high-pressure system started to expand.

It increased even more dramatically in the 20th century as a result of climate change. According to scientists, the western Mediterranean countries have grown drier as the Azores High has grown.

Authors of the study say that data trends point towards rainfall decreasing by as much as 10 to 20 per cent by the end of the century. This has the potential of making Iberian peninsula ‘some of the most vulnerable in Europe’.