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Why the planet doesn't dry out all at once: Scientists solve a global climate puzzle
- February 23, 2026 at 9:13 PM
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Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), in collaboration with international partners, have shown that ocean temperature patterns help limit the global spread of droughts. Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the study analyzed climate data from 1901–2020 and found that synchronized droughts affected between 1.8% and 6.5% of global land, far lower than earlier claims that one-sixth of the planet could dry out at once.
Originally published at Phys.org