AFRICA’s lethal droughts of the past 30 years have been puny compared with
arid spells in previous centuries, according to a pioneering reconstruction of
the climate using lake sediments in East Africa. Those centuries saw huge swings
in African rainfall, says Dirk Verschuren of the University of Ghent in
Belgium.
“The fluctuations seem to be tied to variations in the radiative output of
the Sun,” Verschuren told New Scientist. “Higher solar radiation is
linked to droughts in equatorial East Africa.”
Regionally, Verschuren says that these recurring droughts may be more of a
problem than global warming. “In arid places like…
