A simple framework to characterize land aridity based on surface energy partitioning regimes
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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.
- 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
- OSTI ID:
- 1975099
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-178833
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Research Letters, Journal Name: Environmental Research Letters Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 17; ISSN 1748-9326
- Publisher:
- IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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