An increase of just 2 degrees Celsius in global temperatures could make the world considerably drier and more desert-like, new research has warned.

More than a quarter of the world’s land surface, home to more than 1.5 billion people, would become more arid, and droughts and wildfires could become widespread.

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would dramatically reduce the percentage of the earth’s surface affected, scientists found.

Aridity is a measure of the dryness of the land surface, obtained from combining precipitation and evaporation readings.

“Aridification would affect over 20 to 30 percent of the world’s land surface by the time the global temperature change reaches 2°C,” said Manoj Joshi from the University of East Anglia’s School of Environmental Sciences and one of the study’s co-authors.

The research team studied projections from 27 global climate models and identified areas of the world where aridity will rise substantially.

The most affected areas are parts of Southeast Asia, Southern Europe, Southern Africa, Central America and Southern Australia.

These areas are home to more than 20 percent of the world’s population — that’s over 1.5 billion people.

The study looked at the current rate of global temperature increase and compared it to data from before the industrial revolution.

The world has already warmed by 1°C since then.

Two thirds of the affected regions could avoid significant aridification if warming is halted at 1.5°C, researchers found.

The Paris Agreement, which was first signed in 2015, is an international agreement to control climate change.

It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.

In June, President Trump announced his intention for the United States, the second largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, to withdraw from the agreement.

Drought is one of the biggest concerns in some parts of the world, where rainfall is rare and water scarce. Some parts of Kenya, for example, can go an entire year without a drop of rain.

The research was published in Nature Climate Change.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【干旱的】gānhàn de arid being without moisture, extremely dry

【退出】tuìchū withdraw remove oneself from some activity, competition, etc.

最新研究提醒称，全球气温升高2摄氏度，就会显著增加干旱程度，使地球荒漠化程度加剧。

届时超过四分之一的陆地表面（15亿多人口的家园）将会更加干旱荒芜，野火肆虐。

科学家发现，将全球气候变暖升温控制在1.5摄氏度以内将显著降低地球表面受影响的比例。

干燥度是衡量地表干燥程度的指标，通过综合衡量降水量和蒸发量得出。

研究报告合著者、东安格利亚大学环境科学学院的马努基•乔西博士说：“如果地球升温2摄氏度，20%到30%的地表会干旱化。”

研究小组对27个全球气候模型进行了推算，确定出严重受到干旱影响的地区。

受影响最大的包括东南亚、欧洲南部、非洲南部、中美洲和南澳的部分地区。

这些地区居住了超过15亿人口，超过全球人口的20%。

研究审视了目前全球温度上升的速度，并将之与工业革命之前的数据进行对比。

自那时起，地球温度已经上升了1摄氏度。

研究人员发现，如果升温控制在1.5摄氏度以内，三分之二的受影响地区将免遭严重干旱化。

2015年首次签署的《巴黎气候协定》是一份控制气候变化的国际协议。

该协定希望将全球平均增温控制在2摄氏度以下，并努力将增温控制在1.5摄氏度以下。

今年6月，美国总统特朗普宣布，全球第二大温室气体排放国美国将退出该协议。

干旱是全球一些地区最大的担忧之一，这些缺水地区干旱少雨。比如，肯尼亚的部分地区可能全年无雨。

这项研究结果发表在《自然气候变化》期刊上。(Chinadaily.com.cn)