Dry conditions can also make warming worse, said Amir AghaKouchak, [professor of civil & environmental engineering], who studies climate-related and other water resource issues at the University of California, Irvine. Warming causes soil to lose moisture through evaporation … “During droughts, moisture levels become very low, so evaporation doesn’t happen,” Dr. AghaKouchak said. “The skin of the earth warms up, and that warms the atmosphere.” [Subscription required, campus-wide access provided by UCI Libraries. Sign-up here: https://guides.lib.uci.edu/nytimes] Read More