Tropical Belt Widens more than expected
Researchers from Maryland reported yesterday that the Earth’s tropical region, as defined by rain and wind patterns, expanded north and south over the past few decades, another sign of global climate change.
The tropics are coming closer to the poles, even faster than the expected speed according to existent models of climate change, the scientists informed in the journal “Nature Geoscience”. This would widen the area affected by hurricanes and modify precipitations pattern in subtropical regions, the researchers said.
Early signs of global warming include melting of ice and thawed land in the Artic region. The study released yesterday suggests the tropics are also changing as a response to higher temperatures.
The current expansion would shift the subtropical areas by including the Mediterranean region, the southwestern area of the United States, Mexico, southern Australia, South Africa and some parts of South America.
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