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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

‘Flash’ droughts are quick-drying farm fields globally

Important crop-growing regions, such as Brazil, are susceptible to droughts that strike with alarming speed.
A farmer holds dry soil in his hand

A farmer holds soil from his arid field in Logan, Kansas, during a flash drought that baked the US Midwest in 2012. Credit: John Moore/Getty

Scientists have identified global hotspots for ‘flash droughts’, which develop with unusual swiftness and quickly parch the land1.

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Nature 599, 183 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03009-0

References

  1. Christian, J. I. et al. Nature Commun. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26692-z (2021).

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