An aerial view of the Fuente de Piedra lake, some 70 kilometres from Malaga. Spain's water reserves are currently at less than 45 percent of their capacity.PARIS - Parts of Portugal and Spain are the driest they have been in a thousand years due to an atmospheric high-pressure system driven by climate change, according to research published Monday, warning of severe implications for wine and olive production.
Using climate model simulations over the last 1,200 years, the study found that this high-pressure system started to grow to cover a greater area around 200 years ago, as human greenhouse gas pollution began to increase.The authors then looked at evidence of rainfall levels preserved over hundreds of years in Portuguese stalagmites and found that as the Azores High has expanded, the winters in the western Mediterranean have become drier.
"Our findings have important implications for projected changes in western Mediterranean hydroclimate throughout the twenty-first century," the authors said.The Azores High acts as a"gatekeeper" for rainfall into Europe, according to the study, with dry air descending in the summer months to cause hot, arid conditions in much of Portugal, Spain and the western Mediterranean.
While previous research had not untangled the effects of natural variability on the Azores High, the authors said their findings show its expansion during the industrial era is linked to the rise of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
The rain in spain falls mainly on the plain..