A group of researchers, including FES professor Beverly Law, who are examining 'evapotranspiration' on a global basis have concluded that the soils in large areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including major portions of Australia, Africa and South America, have been drying up in the past decade. Consequenses include reduced terrestrial vegetation growth, less carbon absorption, a loss of the natural cooling mechanism provided by evapotranspiration, more heating of the land surface, more intense heat waves and a "feedback loop" that could intensify global warming.  We didn't expect to see this shift in evapotranspiration over such a large area of the Southern Hemisphere," said Beverly Law, a professor of global change forest science.