The study finds that the Ganga River is dry faster than 1,300 years

The Ganga River is a population of more than 600 million people and is located at the center of the South Asian economy and culture – and according to a new study by researchers from IIt Gandhinagar and Arizona University, it is establishing an unseen more than a millennium. The study has rebuilt the flow of the river, and since the 1990s, the decline in the stream has not been seen. The authors associated this drying with weak summer monsoons, human -oriented changes in land and water use, and wider climatic shifts.

If the findings are verified with more research, Ganga has entered into a longer and more intense drought period than the great arid spells of the 14th and 16th centuries. The Ganga basin accounts for 40% of India’s GDP.

The researchers combined the records of the tree ring from the Monsoon Asian drought atlas with hydrological models, thus filled an important gap in long -term flow records. For this reason, researchers were able to rebuild the flow flow of MS 700. Later, they confirmed this restructuring against historical droughts and famine, including in Bengal and against modern data in the 18th century. Finally, they compared these reconstruction with climate model projections to test whether the existing drying cannot be explained only by natural variability.

Between 1991 and 2020, they found that the basin had four to seven years of drought, which was more rare than the previous millennium. The 2004-2010 drought was the most violent in 1,300 years. In general, it is estimated that drying after the 1990s is 76% more intense than the worst 16th century drought. Statistical analyzes confirm that this decrease cannot be explained by climate variability; Instead, rapid heating of the Indian Ocean and Aerosol pollution, groundwater pumping base tip and land use changes to weak monsoons due to changes.

According to the team’s article, It was published PNAs On September 23, the findings question the reliability of existing global climate models that do not reproduce the drying tendency, most of them. Indeed, even if some climatic models reflect more wet conditions in the future, inability to mean the last drying means planning, not only optimistic estimates, but should also include adaptable water management that explains both natural and human drivers.

The study also underlined the fragility of the Basin population to the maritime ecosystem, which is connected to the river discharge of the Gulf of Bengal, from reducing the flow -threatening agriculture of the Basin population.