Reduced moisture transport linked to drought propagation across North America
Reduced moisture transport linked to drought propagation across North America
Droughts can have devastating societal impacts. Yet, we do not fully understand the mechanisms that control their development, possibly affecting our ability to predict them. Here we run a moisture‐tracking analytical model using reanalysis data between 1980 and 2016 to explore the role of reduced moisture transport in drought propagation. We find that agricultural droughts in multiple subregions across North America may be amplified by decreased moisture transport from upwind land areas, which we link to reduced evapotranspiration and dry soil moisture upwind. We also find that decreases in precipitation recycling are correlated with decreases in moisture arriving from upwind areas. We estimate that decreases in moisture contributions from land areas accounted for 62% of the precipitation deficit during the 2012 Midwest drought. Our results suggest that the land surface may contain useful information for drought prediction and highlight the importance of sustainable land use and of regional cooperation for drought risk management.
5243-5253
Herrera‐estrada, Julio E.
81b87fc8-5a36-4622-8a55-eef06e9c9485
Martinez, J. Alejandro
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Dominguez, Francina
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Findell, Kirsten L.
e0767884-0d90-4596-94c5-ebb249fb291b
Wood, Eric F.
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Sheffield, Justin
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28 May 2019
Herrera‐estrada, Julio E.
81b87fc8-5a36-4622-8a55-eef06e9c9485
Martinez, J. Alejandro
1406e4c7-19e4-459f-8283-53cbb794faa7
Dominguez, Francina
ad1f17b4-1819-420c-8ad7-eabc9ee6f935
Findell, Kirsten L.
e0767884-0d90-4596-94c5-ebb249fb291b
Wood, Eric F.
8352c1b4-4fd3-42fe-bd23-46619024f1cf
Sheffield, Justin
dd66575b-a4dc-4190-ad95-df2d6aaaaa6b
Herrera‐estrada, Julio E., Martinez, J. Alejandro, Dominguez, Francina, Findell, Kirsten L., Wood, Eric F. and Sheffield, Justin
(2019)
Reduced moisture transport linked to drought propagation across North America.
Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (10), .
(doi:10.1029/2019GL082475).
Abstract
Droughts can have devastating societal impacts. Yet, we do not fully understand the mechanisms that control their development, possibly affecting our ability to predict them. Here we run a moisture‐tracking analytical model using reanalysis data between 1980 and 2016 to explore the role of reduced moisture transport in drought propagation. We find that agricultural droughts in multiple subregions across North America may be amplified by decreased moisture transport from upwind land areas, which we link to reduced evapotranspiration and dry soil moisture upwind. We also find that decreases in precipitation recycling are correlated with decreases in moisture arriving from upwind areas. We estimate that decreases in moisture contributions from land areas accounted for 62% of the precipitation deficit during the 2012 Midwest drought. Our results suggest that the land surface may contain useful information for drought prediction and highlight the importance of sustainable land use and of regional cooperation for drought risk management.
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Accepted/In Press date: 16 April 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 24 April 2019
Published date: 28 May 2019
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 432257
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432257
ISSN: 0094-8276
PURE UUID: 1e23e6ed-111f-4ef9-b8ea-6b8040039621
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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:56
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Contributors
Author:
Julio E. Herrera‐estrada
Author:
J. Alejandro Martinez
Author:
Francina Dominguez
Author:
Kirsten L. Findell
Author:
Eric F. Wood
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