A simple framework to characterize land aridity based on surface energy partitioning regimes

He, Qing; Lu, Hui; Yang, Kun; Leung, L. Ruby; Pan, Ming; He, Jie; Yao, Panpan

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac50d4

A simple framework to characterize land aridity based on surface energy partitioning regimes

Journal Article · Mon Feb 21 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Environmental Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac50d4· OSTI ID:1975099

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Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Ministry of Education Beijing (China). Ecological Field Station for East Asian Migratory Birds
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Scripps Inst. of Oceanography
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Aerospace Information Research Institute

Land aridity is often characterized by the aridity index (AI), which does not account for land surface water-energy interactions that are crucially important in determining regional climate. Such interactions can be captured by the evaporative fraction (EF, ratio of evapotranspiration to available energy) regimes. As EF is subject to energy and water limitations in humid and dry areas, respectively, EF regimes may be used to characterize land aridity to account for the influence of complex land characteristics and their impact on water availability. Here, we propose a simple framework to characterize land aridity by statistically ranking the coupling strength between EF and surface energy and water terms. The framework is demonstrated using gridded data and compared with AI over the U.S. and China. Results show that regionalization of aridity zones based on EF regimes and a two-tiered classification scheme may provide information such as surface energy and water variability complementary to the background aridity depicted by AI, with implications for extreme events.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Key Research and Development Program of China; Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830; 2017YFA0603703; 2019QZKK0206; 183311KYSB20200015

OSTI ID:: 1975099

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-178833

Journal Information:: Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 3; ISSN 1748-9326

Publisher:: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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