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Estimation of continental precipitation recyclingThe total amount of water that precipitates on large continental regions is supplied by two mechanisms: 1) advection from the surrounding areas external to the region and 2) evaporation and transpiration from the land surface within the region. The latter supply mechanism is tantamount to the recycling of precipitation over the continental area. The degree to which regional precipitation is supplied by recycled moisture is a potentially significant climate feedback mechanism and land surface-atmosphere interaction, which may contribute to the persistence and intensification of droughts. Gridded data on observed wind and humidity in the global atmosphere are used to determine the convergence of atmospheric water vapor over continental regions. A simplified model of the atmospheric moisture over continents and simultaneous estimates of regional precipitation are employed to estimate, for several large continental regions, the fraction of precipitation that is locally derived. The results indicate that the contribution of regional evaporation to regional precipitation varies substantially with location and season. For the regions studied, the ratio of locally contributed to total monthly precipitation generally lies between 0. 10 and 0.30 but is as high as 0.40 in several cases.
Document ID
19930064886
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Brubaker, Kaye L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Entekhabi, Dara
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Eagleson, P. S.
(MIT Cambridge, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Climate
Volume: 6
Issue: 6
ISSN: 0894-8755
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Accession Number
93A48883
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF BCS-91-58150
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-743
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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