As California finally experiences the arrival of a rain-bearing Pineapple Express this week, two climate scientists from the University of Minnesota and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have shown that the drought of 2012-2014 has been the worst in 1,200 years. Daniel Griffin, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, Environment and Society at the University of Minnesota, and Kevin Anchukaitis, an assistant scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, asked the question, How unusual is the ongoing1 California drought Watching the severity of the California drought intensify2 since last autumn, they wondered how it would eventually compare to other extreme droughts throughout the states history.To answer those questions, Griffin and Anchukaitis collected new tree-ring samples from blue oak trees in southern and central California. Californias old blue oaks are as close to natures rain gauges3 as we get, says Griffin. They thrive in some of Californias driest environments. These trees are particularly sensitive to moisture changes and their tree rings display moisture fluctuations4 vividly5.As soon as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric6 Administration released climate data for the summer of 2014, the two scientists sprang into action. Using their blue oak data, they reconstructed rainfall back to the 13th century. They also calculated the severity of the drought by combining NOAAs estimates of the Palmer Drought Severity Index , an index of soil moisture variability, with the existing North American Drought Atlas7, a spatial8 tree-ring based reconstruction9 of drought developed by scientists at Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory10. These resources together provided complementary data on rainfall and soil moisture over the past millennium11. Griffin and Anchukaitis found that while the current period of low precipitation is not unusual in Californias history, these rainfall deficits12 combined with sustained record high temperatures created the current multiyear severe water shortages. While it is precipitation that sets the rhythm of California drought, temperature weighs in on the pitch, says Anchukaitis.We were genuinely surprised at the result, says Griffin, a NOAA Climate Global Change Fellow and former WHOI postdoctoral scholar. This is California--drought happens. Time and again, the most common result in tree-ring studies is that drought episodes in the past were more extreme than those of more recent eras. This time, however, the result was different. While there is good evidence of past sustained, multi-decadal droughts or so-called megadroughts in California, the authors say those past episodes were probably punctuated13 by occasional wet years, even if the cumulative14 effect over decades was one of overall drying. The current short-term drought appears to be worse than any previous span of consecutive15 years of drought without reprieve16.Tree rings are a valuable data source when tracking historical climate, weather and natural disaster trends. Floods, fires, drought and other elements that can affect growing conditions are reflected in the development of tree rings, and since each ring represents one year the samples collected from centuries-old trees are a virtual timeline that extend beyond the historical record in North America.
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1 ongoing adj.进行中的，前进的 参考例句： The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。 The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concerns ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。
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