UMD News: March 14, 2011

Communication Associate: Public Relations | Lori Melton | lmelton@d.umn.edu | (218) 726-8830

March 14, 2011
Cheryl Reitan, Director, UMD Public Relations and Marketing 218 726-8996 creitan@d.umn.edu
Erik Brown, Professor, Large Lakes Observatory and Department of Geological Sciences 218 726-8891 etbrown@d.umn.edu
Josef P. Werne, Associate Professor, UMD Chemistry and Biochemistry 218 726-7436 jwerne@d.umn.edu
Melissa A. Berke, Research Assistant, UMD Large Lakes Observatory 218 726-7396 berk0135@d.umn.edu

UMD Researchers' "Mega-drought" Findings
Featured in the February 23 Journal "Nature News"

UMD co-authors Professor Erik Brown (Geological Sciences), Associate Professor Josef Werne (Chemistry and Biochemistry), and graduate student/research assistant Melissa Berke contributed to a scientific publication, "Extended Megadroughts in the Southwestern United States During Pleistocene Interglacials", which appears in the international journal Nature.

Through the research described in this scientific publication, the three UMD researchers and a substantial group of collaborating experts in related fields help shape the study of future drought potential in the United States Southwest.

The scientific publication outlines past climate changes and phases, as well as transitions from one temperature regime to the next.

These findings also appear in the February 23 article "Mega-Drought Threat to US Southwest" in the Nature News journal and a summarization of the article is found in the "News and Views" section of the February issue of Nature.

To see the entire scientific article in the "Nature" journal, go to:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v470/n7335/full/nature09839.html

For a synopsis of the scientific article in "Nature News", go to:
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110223/full/news.2011.120.html

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