India’s historical lakes could shed light on future climate patterns

Northwestern India, which is currently a desert region, was speckled with lakes ~6000 years ago according to paleo-evidence. CIRES’ Balaji Rajagopalan and his colleagues will use computer models to reconstruct the paleo history of these extinct lakes – and they hope to gain insight on the region’s future climate, along the way. The lake reconstruction model will simulate the growth, sustenance, and demise of these historical lakes by manipulating the amounts of precipitation, evaporation, and runoff occurring across northwestern India. The lakes existed during the Holocene, 6,000 years ago, when northwestern India was warmer and wetter than it is today. Climate models project the region will be warmer and wetter in the future so new findings pertaining to India’s Holocene climate could shed light on future monsoon and precipitation patterns. Modeling the evolution of regional lakes will allow investigators to actually quantify differences between India’s present climate and Holocene climate.