In meteorology, a precipitationshed is the upwind ocean and land surface that contributes evaporation to a given, downwind location's precipitation. The concept has been described as an "atmospheric watershed". The concept itself rests on a broad foundation of scholarly work examining the evaporative sources of rainfall. Since its formal definition, the precipitationshed has become an element in water security studies, examinations of sustainability, and mentioned as a potentially useful tool for examining vulnerability of rainfall dependent ecosystems.
Concept
In an effort to conceptualize the recycling of evaporation from a specific location to the spatially explicit region that receives this moisture, the precipitationshed concept was expanded to the evaporationshed. This expanded concept has been highlighted as particularly useful for providing a spatially explicit region for examining the impacts of significant land-use change, such as deforestation, irrigation, or agricultural intensification.
See also
References
- P. W. Keys; et al. (2012). "Analyzing precipitationsheds to understand the vulnerability of rainfall dependent regions". Biogeosciences. 9 (2): 733–746. Bibcode:2012BGeo....9..733K. doi:10.5194/bg-9-733-2012.
- R. Koster; et al. (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.
- E.A.B. Eltahir; R.L. Bras (July 1994). "Precipitation recycling in the Amazon basin". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. Part A. 120 (518): 861–880. doi:10.1256/smsqj.51805.
- P.A. Dirmeyer; K.L. Brubaker (27 August 1999). "Contrasting evaporative moisture sources during the drought of 1988 and the flood of 1993". Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 104 (D16): 19383–19397. Bibcode:1999JGR...10419383D. doi:10.1029/1999JD900222.
- H. Wheater; P. Gober (13 November 2013). "Water security in the Canadian Prairies: science and management challenges". Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 371 (2002 20120409): 20120409. Bibcode:2013RSPTA.37120409W. doi:10.1098/rsta.2012.0409. PMID 24080618.
- J.Rockström; et al. (2014). Water Resilience for Human Prosperity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-02419-9.
- R.Mahmood; et al. (March 2014). "Land cover changes and their biogeophysical effects on climate". International Journal of Climatology. 34 (4): 929–953. Bibcode:2014IJCli..34..929M. doi:10.1002/joc.3736. S2CID 3725248.
- R.J. van der Ent; et al. (2013). "Oceanic sources of continental precipitation and the correlation with sea surface temperature". Water Resources Research. 49 (7): 3993–4004. Bibcode:2013WRR....49.3993E. doi:10.1002/wrcr.20296. S2CID 281166.
- Duerinck, H. M.; van der Ent, R. J.; van de Giesen, N. C.; Schoups, G.; Babovic, V.; Yeh, Pat J.-F. (2016-02-17). "Observed Soil Moisture–Precipitation Feedback in Illinois: A Systematic Analysis over Different Scales". Journal of Hydrometeorology. 17 (6): 1645–1660. Bibcode:2016JHyMe..17.1645D. doi:10.1175/JHM-D-15-0032.1. hdl:1874/335947. ISSN 1525-755X. S2CID 127710976.
External links
- Stockholm Resilience Centre Whiteboard talk series
- CABI: Precipitationsheds - a new concept for water science
- Water Resilience for Human Prosperity