By Ziquan Miao

In an effort to highlight how deforestation in the Amazon rain could affect climates in other locations, researchers from Princeton University report that total Amazon deforestation could have detrimental effects on the Western half of the United States. Using high-resolution climate simulations, researchers have found that the dry air produced over the Amazon from deforestation could move from its South American location toward the North Western portion of the United States during the months between December and February.

This dry air will be the culprit behind reduced rainfall and snowfall in the western United States resulting in reduced availability in water, food shortages, and increased risk of forest fires. The dry air effect would potentially reduce the size of the important Sierra Nevada snowpack, which waters many Californian cities and farms, by roughly fifty percent. It should be understood that this study assumed complete removal of the Amazonian forest, a reality that could come true at the current rate that deforestation in the Amazon is occurring.

Source:http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S38/31/66M12/index.xml?section=topstories