Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: The Role of Interactive Soil Moisture in Land Drying Under Anthropogenic Warming

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland WA USA
+ Show Author Affiliations

Abstract Relative humidity (RH) is projected to increase over ocean but decrease over land under anthropogenic warming. The land RH decrease was previously attributed to ocean influences on land changes. Here, we show that interactive soil moisture (SM) is necessary and may be sufficient for anthropogenic warming to reduce the land RH. The land RH decrease is absent in simulations with realistic land‐ocean geometry but fixed SM, and present in simulations with interactive SM but no oceans or changes in precipitation minus evaporation. The land RH decrease is coupled to the SM decline and the latter could be understood as a natural response of interactive SM to anthropogenic warming. Specifically, prior to adjustments in SM and RH, evaporation would increase by ∼6% K −1 following the Clausius–Clapeyron relation, outpacing the radiatively constrained ∼2% K −1 precipitation increase. This prior imbalance depletes SM and consequently reduces RH through the coupling between SM and RH.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
2007996
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--190711; e2023GL105308
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 50; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (50)

Responses of terrestrial aridity to global warming journal July 2014
Sensitivity of reference evapotranspiration to changes in meteorological parameters in Spain (1961–2011) journal November 2014
Link between land‐ocean warming contrast and surface relative humidities in simulations with coupled climate models journal October 2013
A physically based scheme for the treatment of stratiform clouds and precipitation in large-scale models. I: Description and evaluation of the microphysical processes journal July 1997
Agricultural drought in a future climate: results from 15 global climate models participating in the IPCC 4th assessment journal October 2005
A diagnostic study of future evaporation changes projected in CMIP5 climate models journal February 2014
Direct and indirect effects of atmospheric conditions and soil moisture on surface energy partitioning revealed by a prolonged drought at a temperate forest site journal January 2006
Low-frequency variations in surface atmospheric humidity, temperature, and precipitation: Inferences from reanalyses and monthly gridded observational data sets journal January 2010
Water Vapor and the Dynamics of Climate Changes journal January 2010
Developments in the MPI‐M Earth System Model version 1.2 (MPI‐ESM1.2) and Its Response to Increasing CO 2 journal April 2019
UKESM1: Description and Evaluation of the U.K. Earth System Model journal December 2019
Evaluation of CNRM Earth System Model, CNRM‐ESM2‐1: Role of Earth System Processes in Present‐Day and Future Climate journal December 2019
Presentation and Evaluation of the IPSL‐CM6A‐LR Climate Model journal July 2020
The GFDL Earth System Model version 4.1 (GFDL‐ESM 4.1): Overall coupled model description and simulation characteristics journal August 2020
Identifying Key Drivers of Wildfires in the Contiguous US Using Machine Learning and Game Theory Interpretation journal June 2021
Emergent Simplicity of Continental Evapotranspiration journal March 2020
CMIP6 Simulations With the CMCC Earth System Model (CMCC‐ESM2) journal March 2022
Constraints on future changes in climate and the hydrologic cycle journal September 2002
Land–atmosphere feedbacks amplify aridity increase over land under global warming journal May 2016
Climate-induced variations in global wildfire danger from 1979 to 2013 journal July 2015
Multiple drivers of the North Atlantic warming hole journal June 2020
Amplified warming of extreme temperatures over tropical land journal October 2021
Heat and drought 2003 in Europe: a climate synthesis journal September 2006
The Australian Earth System Model: ACCESS-ESM1.5 journal January 2020
Plant responses to increasing CO 2 reduce estimates of climate impacts on drought severity journal August 2016
Mean precipitation change from a deepening troposphere journal October 2018
Trends in continental temperature and humidity directly linked to ocean warming journal April 2018
Direct versus indirect effects of tropospheric humidity changes on the hydrologic cycle journal April 2010
How closely do changes in surface and column water vapor follow Clausius–Clapeyron scaling in climate change simulations? journal April 2010
The response of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance to rising [CO 2 ]: mechanisms and environmental interactions : Photosynthesis and stomatal conductance responses to rising [CO journal January 2007
Potential Evaporation and Soil Moisture in General Circulation Models journal March 1992
CLIMATE AND THE OCEAN CIRCULATION 1 : I. THE ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION AND THE HYDROLOGY OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE journal November 1969
Meteorological Conditions during Heat Waves and Droughts in the United States Great Plains journal July 1987
Relaxed Arakawa-Schubert. A Parameterization of Moist Convection for General Circulation Models journal June 1992
Representation of Clouds in Large-Scale Models journal November 1993
A New Boundary Layer Mixing Scheme. Part I: Scheme Description and Single-Column Model Tests journal September 2000
Global Modeling of Land Water and Energy Balances. Part I: The Land Dynamics (LaD) Model journal June 2002
Detailed Investigation of the Self-Aggregation of Convection in Cloud-Resolving Simulations journal August 2012
Parameter Study of Tropical Cyclones in Rotating Radiative–Convective Equilibrium with Column Physics and Resolution of a 25-km GCM journal March 2014
A Conceptual Spectral Plume Model for Understanding Tropical Temperature Profile and Convective Updraft Velocities journal August 2019
Land–Ocean Warming Contrast over a Wide Range of Climates: Convective Quasi-Equilibrium Theory and Idealized Simulations journal June 2013
Radiative–Convective Equilibrium over a Land Surface journal December 2014
The Response of Precipitation Minus Evapotranspiration to Climate Warming: Why the “Wet-Get-Wetter, Dry-Get-Drier” Scaling Does Not Hold over Land journal October 2015
Understanding Decreases in Land Relative Humidity with Global Warming: Conceptual Model and GCM Simulations journal December 2016
Robust Responses of the Hydrological Cycle to Global Warming journal November 2006
Radiative–convective equilibrium model intercomparison project journal January 2018
The Canadian Earth System Model version 5 (CanESM5.0.3) journal January 2019
Development of the MIROC-ES2L Earth system model and the evaluation of biogeochemical processes and feedbacks journal January 2020
The EC-Earth3 Earth system model for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 journal January 2022
Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization journal January 2016

Similar Records

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES