Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001georl..28.1219m&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 28, Issue 7, p. 1219-1222
Physics
30
Hydrology: Evapotranspiration, Hydrology: Hydroclimatology, Hydrology: Water/Energy Interactions, Meteorology And Atmospheric Dynamics: Land/Atmosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
A synthesis of available data for the Mississippi River basin (area 3×106km2) reveals an upward trend in evaporation during recent decades, driven primarily by increases in precipitation and secondarily by human water use. A cloud-related decrease in surface net radiation appears to have accompanied the precipitation trend. Resultant evaporative and radiative cooling of the land and lower atmosphere quantitatively explains downward trends in observed pan evaporation. These cooling tendencies also reconcile the observed regional atmospheric cooling with the anticipated regional ``greenhouse warming.'' If recent high levels of precipitation (which correlate with the North Atlantic Oscillation) are mainly caused by an internal climatic fluctuation, an eventual return to normal precipitation could reveal heretofore-unrealized warming in the basin. If, instead, they are caused by some unidentified forcing that will continue to grow in the future, then continued intensification of water cycling and suppression of warming in the basin could result.
Dunne K. A.
Milly C. D. P.
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