New modelling released this morning by the Australian National University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes has detailed how climate change has already exacerbated droughts, and how it could make them even worse in the future.
There were 10 major ones between 1860 and 2000 – including the devastating Federation Drought of 1895-1903 – while the more recent Millenium Drought, which ran from 2001-09, was one of the nation's worst. Research co-author Professor Nerilie Abram from ANU said carbon emissions need to be reduced and water management improved to mitigate the risk of megadroughts.