Read here. The IPCC has claimed that semi-arid and desert areas will become hotter and drier because of global warming, thus making areas less hospitable to vegetation causing deserts to enlarge. Amazingly (Not!), the blanket IPCC claim is another failed prediction as scientists in China have confirmed.
Peng et al. analyzed data (1980-2006) from China's most arid regions and discovered that winter precipitation had increased. In addition, vegetation growth increased in these areas, which likely contributed to the decline of China's dust storms over recent decades.
"The five researchers report that "over the past three decades, winter snow depth overall increased in northern China, particularly in the most arid and semiarid regions of western China where desert and grassland are mainly distributed," and they say that in those specific areas there were positive correlations between mean winter snow depth and spring NDVI data.....they note that Piao et al. (2005) determined that the net primary productivity of the same desert and grasslands during 1982-1999 "increased by 1.6% per year and 1.1% per year, respectively," and that "desertification has been reversed in some areas of western China since the 1980s,".....write that the "increase in vegetation coverage in arid and semiarid regions of China, possibly driven by winter snow, will likely restore soil and enhance its antiwind-erosion ability, reducing the possibility of released dust and mitigating sand-dust storms," while noting that the frequency of sand-dust storms has indeed "declined in China since the early 1980s." [Shushi Peng, Shilong Piao, Philippe Ciais, Jingyun Fang, and Xuhui Wang 2010: Global Change Biology]
Other failed-prediction, severe-weather and peer-reviewed postings.
