The Thar Desert, which stretches across Rajasthan in India and parts of Pakistan, might turn green in the coming 100 years. This is surprising because, due to global warming, many deserts, like the Sahara, are expected to grow bigger.
This desert, covering 200,000 square kilometres, is one of the world’s largest. But a new study in the journal “Earth’s Future” has a different prediction for the Thar Desert.
Researchers, using various data and simulations, noticed that rain in the northwest regions of India and Pakistan has gone up a lot from 1901 to 2015. If current trends continue, these areas might get even more rain in the future.
One main reason for this change is the movement of the Indian monsoon rains. These rains used to support life in these regions long ago, like the Indus Valley civilization.