Ocean temperatures may be quietly protecting the world from a global drought catastrophe. By analyzing more than a century of climate data, researchers discovered that droughts rarely spread across the planet at the same time, affecting only about 1.8%–6.5% of global land simultaneously—far less than earlier estimates. The reason lies largely in shifting ocean patterns such as El Niño and La Niña, which create a patchwork of drought conditions across continents instead of one massive worldwide dry spell.
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