Climate change could transform ten cities in the United States into deserts before 2080. That is what a study developed by the Open Earth Monitor Cyberinfrastructure project points out, according to which this change could drastically modify the natural map of the United States in the coming decades.
According to the newspaper La Razón, the research, developed with high-resolution climate data and machine learning techniques, projects an expansion of arid areas as temperatures rise and precipitation patterns change.
The authors foresee that the prairies of central United States will evolve into drier ecosystems, while the wet forests of the east coast will give way to vegetation more resistant to drought. At the same time, the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, and southern California would advance into territories of Texas and Colorado.
The 10 cities
According to the information disseminated by La Razón, the ten cities that present the highest probability of becoming desert biomes are Bakersfield and Lancaster (California); Reno and Sparks (Nevada); Pueblo and Grand Junction (Colorado); Rio Rancho (New Mexico); and Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland, in the state of Washington.
Among them, Bakersfield stands out, with a population of over 400,000 inhabitants, followed by Reno, with more than 265,000 residents. Together, these localities total more than 1.4 million inhabitants who could be affected by an environmental transformation with implications for water availability, biodiversity, agriculture, and urban planning.
Although these are climate projections and not immediate changes, the study warns that if current trends continue, large areas of the country could experience desert-like conditions during the second half of the 21st century.