[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6473\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EEarlier springs depleting water, linked to summer heatwaves \u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis spring was the hottest on record, according to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/data.giss.nasa.gov\/gistemp\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Edata\u003C\/a\u003E compiled by NASA, while 2015 was the hottest year ever, followed by 2014.\u003Cdiv class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-bg-bluelightest tw-p-12 tw-my-12 tw--mx-16\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3 class=\u0022tw-font-sans tw-font-bold tw-text-blue tw-uppercase tw-text-lg tw-mb-8\u0022\u003EThe Issue\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-inline-block tw-w-1\/6 tw-h-1 tw-bg-blue tw-mb-8\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EIf policymakers are to meet the targets agreed in Paris at COP21 last year to keep global warming to within 2 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial times, they will need to know the implications of each decision they make.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis is where climate modelling comes in. Scientists around the world are using bigger and bigger computers to crunch the numbers and work out what the trend will be for global temperatures under different scenarios.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs politicians prepare to meet in Morocco for COP 22 to look at how to implement the decisions taken in Paris, one of the big challenges for researchers is to work out exactly which environmental factors have to be included to make their climate models as accurate as possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWarm springs mean more plant growth, and a team of researchers studying the causes and effects of drought discovered that these early growth spurts are leading to lower levels of soil moisture, as plants pull more water out of the ground.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Higher vegetation activity during warmer spring is depleting water resources earlier, and thus contributing to water limitations and potential heatwaves during summer,\u2019 explained Dr Sebastian Wolf, coordinator of the EU-funded research project, known as ECOWAX.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat could mean less water for people to drink and for farmers to use on their crops.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team of scientists, led by a group at Switzerland\u0027s ETH Zurich - once host to Albert Einstein - have based their research on the 2012 US drought, the most severe since the Dust Bowl period of the 1930s.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy looking at measurements of environmental conditions from 22 sites across the US they were able to build a detailed picture of the impact of plant growth on the climate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile they found that the spring growth in fact compensated for the reduced growth effects of summer drought, they also discovered that it may be leading to heatwaves, because dry soils can exacerbate extreme temperatures, while wetter soils reduce the chance of heatwaves through evaporative cooling.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey hope that the research will help policymakers decide how to manage the use of the land as the world warms up.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStress gases\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDrought also has another effect on the atmosphere as plants that are under stress emit specific trace gases, known as biogenic volatile organic compounds that may, for example, contribute to the formation of ozone.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Higher vegetation activity during warmer spring is depleting water resources earlier.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Sebastian Wolf, ETH Zurich, Switzerland\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Professor \u00dclo Niinemets at the Estonian University of Life Sciences, principal investigator on the Sip-Vol+ project, funded by the EU\u2019s European Research Council, these gases can have an impact on the atmosphere.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s an effect that has to be taken on board by climate modellers if they\u2019re to get their forecasts right. And accurate climate forecasts are crucial as society needs to adapt to global warming, such as by changing the use of farms and choosing the right spot for wind turbines.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research of ECOWAX and Sip-Vol+ suggests that in order to fully understand the future effects of plants on global warming, the models which are used to predict the climate of the future need to do better at realistically representing the behaviour of plants and vegetation processes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn fact, Prof. Niinemets believes that stress gases might even affect specific atmospheric particles in a way that can cool the climate, by increasing the reflection of sunlight by clouds, for instance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This research lays a foundation assuring that future plant models include stress-dependent emissions,\u2019 he said, \u2018further allowing improvement of climate models in a way that considers climate effects on plant stress, and plant stress effects on the climate system.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-mqigvtta25bkry1j-afpgyeos0rfjwiby5wmcvez7z0\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-MQiGvtTA25bkrY1j-aFpgyeOs0RFJWIbY5wmCvez7z0\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]