Moisture recycling
Inhydrology,moisture recyclingorprecipitation recyclingrefer to the process by which a portion of theprecipitatedwaterthatevapotranspiredfrom a given area contributes to the precipitation over the same area. Moisture recycling is thus a component of thehydrologic cycle.The ratio of the locally derived precipitation (PL) to total precipitation (P) is known as therecycling ratio,ρ:[1]
The recycling ratio is a diagnostic measure of the potential for interactions betweenland surface hydrologyand regionalclimate.[2][3][4][5]Land usechanges, such asdeforestationoragriculturalintensification, have the potential to change the amount of precipitation that falls in a region. The recycling ratio for the entire world is one, and for a single point is zero. Estimates for the recycling ratio for theAmazon basinrange from 24% to 56%, and for theMississippi basinfrom 21% to 24%.[6]
The concept of moisture recycling has been integrated into the concept of theprecipitationshed.A precipitationshed is the upwind ocean and land surface that contributes evaporation to a given, downwind location's precipitation. In much the same way that a watershed is defined by a topographically explicit area that providessurface runoff,the precipitationshed is a statistically defined area within which evaporation, traveling via moisture recycling, provides precipitation for a specific point.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Eltahir, E.A."Precipitation Recycling in the Amazon Basin"(PDF).Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
- ^Koster, R.; Jouzel, J.; Suozzo, R.; Russell, G.; Broecker, W.; Rind, D.; Eagleson, P. (February 1986). "Global sources of local precipitation as determined by the Nasa/Giss GCM".Geophysical Research Letters.13(2): 121–124.Bibcode:1986GeoRL..13..121K.doi:10.1029/GL013i002p00121.
- ^Trenberth, Kevin E. (May 1999)."Atmospheric Moisture Recycling: Role of Advection and Local Evaporation".Journal of Climate.12(5): 1368–1381.Bibcode:1999JCli...12.1368T.doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<1368:amrroa>2.0.co;2.S2CID59584165.
- ^Brubaker, Kaye L.; Entekhabi, Dara; Eagleson, P. S. (June 1993)."Estimation of Continental Precipitation Recycling".Journal of Climate.6(6): 1077–1089.Bibcode:1993JCli....6.1077B.doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<1077:eocpr>2.0.co;2.
- ^van der Ent, Rudi J.; Savenije, Hubert H. G.; Schaefli, Bettina; Steele-Dunne, Susan C. (1 September 2010)."Origin and fate of atmospheric moisture over continents".Water Resources Research.46(9): W09525.Bibcode:2010WRR....46.9525V.doi:10.1029/2010WR009127.ISSN1944-7973.
- ^Moisture recyclingArchivedJanuary 16, 2006, at theWayback Machine
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