U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Present-day irrigation mitigates heat extremes: IRRIGATION MITIGATES HEAT EXTREMES
Abstract
Irrigation is an essential practice for sustaining global food production and many regional economies. Emerging scientific evidence indicates that irrigation substantially affects mean climate conditions in different regions of the world. Yet how this practice influences climate extremes is currently unknown. Here we use ensemble simulations with the Community Earth System Model to assess the impacts of irrigation on climate extremes. An evaluation of the model performance reveals that irrigation has a small yet overall beneficial effect on the representation of present-day near-surface climate. While the influence of irrigation on annual mean temperatures is limited, we find a large impact on temperature extremes, with a particularly strong cooling during the hottest day of the year (-0.78 K averaged over irrigated land). The strong influence on extremes stems from the timing of irrigation and its influence on land-atmosphere coupling strength. Together these effects result in asymmetric temperature responses, with a more pronounced cooling during hot and/or dry periods. The influence of irrigation is even more pronounced when considering subgrid-scale model output, suggesting that local effects of land management are far more important than previously thought. In conclusion, our results underline that irrigation has substantially reduced our exposure to hot temperature extremesmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[3];
[2];
[2];
[2]
- ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Inst. for Atmospheric and Climate Science; Vrije Univ. Brussel, Brussels (Belgium). Dept. of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering
- ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Inst. for Atmospheric and Climate Science
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Univ. Corp for Atmospheric Research
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA); National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States); ETH Zurich (Switzerland); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1342255
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1342256; OSTI ID: 1427802
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FC03-97ER62402/A010; SC0012972; 2015‐67003‐23489
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Journal Volume: 122 Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; Irrigation; Climate; extremes
Citation Formats
Thiery, Wim, Davin, Edouard L., Lawrence, David M., Hirsch, Annette L., Hauser, Mathias, and Seneviratne, Sonia I. Present-day irrigation mitigates heat extremes: IRRIGATION MITIGATES HEAT EXTREMES. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1002/2016JD025740.
Thiery, Wim, Davin, Edouard L., Lawrence, David M., Hirsch, Annette L., Hauser, Mathias, & Seneviratne, Sonia I. Present-day irrigation mitigates heat extremes: IRRIGATION MITIGATES HEAT EXTREMES. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025740
Thiery, Wim, Davin, Edouard L., Lawrence, David M., Hirsch, Annette L., Hauser, Mathias, and Seneviratne, Sonia I. 2017.
"Present-day irrigation mitigates heat extremes: IRRIGATION MITIGATES HEAT EXTREMES". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025740.
@article{osti_1342255,
title = {Present-day irrigation mitigates heat extremes: IRRIGATION MITIGATES HEAT EXTREMES},
author = {Thiery, Wim and Davin, Edouard L. and Lawrence, David M. and Hirsch, Annette L. and Hauser, Mathias and Seneviratne, Sonia I.},
abstractNote = {Irrigation is an essential practice for sustaining global food production and many regional economies. Emerging scientific evidence indicates that irrigation substantially affects mean climate conditions in different regions of the world. Yet how this practice influences climate extremes is currently unknown. Here we use ensemble simulations with the Community Earth System Model to assess the impacts of irrigation on climate extremes. An evaluation of the model performance reveals that irrigation has a small yet overall beneficial effect on the representation of present-day near-surface climate. While the influence of irrigation on annual mean temperatures is limited, we find a large impact on temperature extremes, with a particularly strong cooling during the hottest day of the year (-0.78 K averaged over irrigated land). The strong influence on extremes stems from the timing of irrigation and its influence on land-atmosphere coupling strength. Together these effects result in asymmetric temperature responses, with a more pronounced cooling during hot and/or dry periods. The influence of irrigation is even more pronounced when considering subgrid-scale model output, suggesting that local effects of land management are far more important than previously thought. In conclusion, our results underline that irrigation has substantially reduced our exposure to hot temperature extremes in the past and highlight the need to account for irrigation in future climate projections.},
doi = {10.1002/2016JD025740},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1342255},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
issn = {2169-897X},
number = 3,
volume = 122,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Thu Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}
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