Watershed response and land energy feedbacks under climate change depend upon groundwater.
Journal Article
·
· Nature Geoscience, vol. 1, no. 10, September 28, 2008, pp. 665-669
OSTI ID:945503
Human induced climate change will have a significant impact on the hydrologic cycle, creating changes in fresh water resources, land cover, and feedbacks that are difficult to characterize, which makes it an issue of global importance. Previous studies have not included subsurface storage in climate change simulations and feedbacks. A variably-saturated groundwater flow model with integrated overland flow and land surface model processes is used to examine the interplay between coupled water and energy processes under climate change conditions. A case study from the Southern Great Plains (SGP) USA, an important agricultural region that is susceptible to drought, is used as the basis for three scenarios simulations using a modified atmospheric forcing dataset to reflect predicted effects due to human-induced climate change. These scenarios include an increase in the atmospheric temperature and variations in rainfall amount and are compared to the present-day climate case. Changes in shallow soil saturation and groundwater levels are quantified as well as the corresponding energy fluxes at the land surface. Here we show that groundwater and subsurface lateral flow processes are critical in understanding hydrologic response and energy feedbacks to climate change and that certain regions are more susceptible to changes in temperature, while others to changes in precipitation. This groundwater control is critical for understanding recharge and drought processes, possible under future climate conditions.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 945503
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-404614
- Journal Information:
- Nature Geoscience, vol. 1, no. 10, September 28, 2008, pp. 665-669, Journal Name: Nature Geoscience, vol. 1, no. 10, September 28, 2008, pp. 665-669 Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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