Estimation of continental precipitation recycling

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Journal of Climate; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<1077:EOCPR>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:6069152

Brubaker, K L; Entekhabi, D; Eagleson, P S ^[1]

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1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (United States)

The total amount of water that precipitates on large continental regions is supplied by two mechanisms: (1) advection from the surrounding areas external to the region and (2) evaporation and transpiration from the land surface within the region. The latter supply mechanism is tantamount to the recycling of precipitation over the Continental area. The degree to which regional precipitation is supplied by recycled moisture is a potentially significant climate feedback mechanism and land surface-atmosphere interaction, which may contribute to the persistence and intensification of droughts. Gridded data on observed wind and humidity in the global atmosphere are used to determine the convergence of atmospheric water vapor over continental regions. A simplified model of the atmospheric moisture over continents and simultaneous estimates of regional precipitation are employed to estimate, for several large continental regions, the fraction of precipitation that is locally derived. The results indicate that the contribution of regional evaporation to regional precipitation varies substantially with location and season. For the regions studied, the ratio of locally contributed to total monthly precipitation generally lies between 0. 10 and 0.30 but is as high as 0.40 in several cases. 48 refs., 7 figs., 4 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 6069152
• Journal Information: Journal of Climate; (United States), Vol. 6:6; ISSN 0894-8755
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
WATER RESOURCES
CONTINENTAL CRUST
ADVECTION
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
CLIMATES
EVAPORATION
FEEDBACK
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
HYDROLOGY
RECYCLING
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
TRANSPIRATION
EARTH CRUST
MASS TRANSFER
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
RESOURCES
VARIATIONS
540110*
540210 - Environment
Terrestrial- Basic Studies- (1990-)