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Water sources and land capacitor effects stimulate observed summer Arctic moistening and warming

Journal Article · · Communications Earth & Environment
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [4]
  1. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States)
  3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  4. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
  5. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), College Park, MD (United States)
  6. Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY (United States). Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
  7. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
  8. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  9. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
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The primary sources of recent summer Arctic moistening trends in reanalysis are uncertain, hindering attribution of observed Arctic warming due to radiative effects from water vapor changes. Here, we use a combined online numerical water tracer and circulation nudging approach in the Community Earth System Model to track the sources of water vapor beyond its initial sources. Trends in boreal summer large-scale circulation have driven moistening of the Arctic over recent decades, having a large impact on the Arctic radiative budget, accounting for 94% of the strengthening water vapor radiative feedback. We identify two key regions supplying the Arctic water vapor feedback: Northeast North America and western/central Eurasia. In both regions, anticyclonic circulations over the southwest Atlantic and eastern Europe move moisture from the tropical oceans poleward to high latitude land through precipitation in winter and spring. During summer, evapotranspiration over land releases this water vapor, and it is transported by winds into the Arctic. We refer to this sequence of terrestrial moisture storage and release as the land capacitor effect. Thus, the impacts of circulation changes on poleward moisture transport and land-atmosphere interactions over high latitudes represent the underlying mechanisms of the recent moistening and warming in the Arctic.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; SC0023070
OSTI ID:
3012329
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--218211
Journal Information:
Communications Earth & Environment, Journal Name: Communications Earth & Environment Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 6; ISSN 2662-4435
Publisher:
Springer NatureCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

Arctic amplification
Water
land