Living on Earth: Fencing the Weather
In an attempt to stop the westward spread of crop-consuming wild rabbits, Australia put a fence across an almost 2,000 mile stretch of the outback. The fence didn’t stop the rabbits, but it’s caused an interesting phenomenon: the weather is different on each side of the fence. Host Bruce Gellerman speaks with Udaysankar S. Nair of the University of Alabama, who conducted research on how land use affects the weather.
GELLERMAN: Back in 1907, wabbits—uh, rabbits—were invading western Australia. The government decided the bunnies had to go.
GELLERMAN: Instead of killing the rabbits, Australia decided to build a bunny Fence--- 2,000 miles long to keep the rabbits out of the outback. The fence didn’t work but scientists began noticing something strange: on the side of the fence where farmers planted crops there were fewer clouds and it rained a lot less than the side that had native vegetation. The effect the bunny fence had on weather has baffled researchers, until now.
Udaysankar Nair of the University of Alabama in Huntsville is in western Australia where he’s investigating the fence phenomena. Thanks for joining us, professor.
