Recycling of moisture in Europe: contribution of evaporation to variability in very wet and dry years

Bisselink, Berny; Dolman, A. J.

doi:10.5194/hess-13-1685-2009

Cited by 37 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…However, the eastward extension is probably due to the heat low response over Central Europe, blocking the inflow of moist maritime air from the Atlantic and reinforcing the northward extension dynamically, as addressed by Haarsma et al (2008). Using a moisture tracer model, Bisselink and Dolman (2009) also found that advection is the most important contributor to precipitation over central Europe.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

A summer climate regime over Europe modulated by the North Atlantic Oscillation

Wang

Dolman

Alessandri

2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Recent summer heat waves in Europe were found to be preceded by precipitation deficits in winter. Numerical studies suggest that these phenomena are dynamically linked by land-atmosphere interactions. However, there exists as yet no complete observational evidence that connects summer climate variability to winter precipitation and the relevant circulation patterns. In this paper, we investigate the functional responses of summer mean and maximum temperature (June-August, T mean and T max ) as well as soil moisture proxied by the self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI) to preceding winter precipitation (JanuaryMarch, P JFM ) for the period 1901-2005. All the analyzed summer fields show distinctive responses to P JFM over the Mediterranean. We estimate that 10 ∼ 15% of the interannual variability of T max and T mean over the Mediterranean is statistically forced by P JFM . For the scPDSI this amounts to 10 ∼ 25%. Further analysis shows that these responses are highly correlated to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) regime over the Mediterranean. We suggest that NAO modulates European summer temperature by controlling winter precipitation that initializes the moisture states that subsequently interact with temperature. This picture of relations between European summer climate and NAO as well as winter precipitation suggests potential for improved seasonal prediction of summer climate for particular extreme events.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

A summer climate regime over Europe modulated by the North Atlantic Oscillation

Wang

Dolman

Alessandri

2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…Terrestrial moisture produced by evaporation has been recognized as an important component of the local precipitation (Savenije, 1995;Trenberth, 1999;Trenberth et al, 2003;Bisselink and Dolman, 2009;Seneviratne et al, 2010), especially in the vicinity of large lake systems, where water evaporates from the surface and exerts a direct influence on the climate of surrounding areas (Scott & Huff, 1996, Schaetzl, 2002, Henne et al, 2007. Using an isotopic technique, Gat and Matsui (1991) calculated that evaporation from the surface of fresh water bodies provided approximately 20-40% of local atmospheric vapor in the Amazon basin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stable isotopes reveal sources of precipitation in the Qinghai Lake Basin of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Cui

2015

Science of The Total Environment

105

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“…Seneviratne et al, 2010, for a review), the question arises if its memory may propagate to other quantities that are at least partly driven by soil moisture. For example, runoff and evapotranspiration may be highly dependent on soil moisture under certain conditions (Eagleson, 1978;Koster and Milly, 1997;Koster et al, 2004;Botter et al, 2007;Bisselink and Dolman, 2009;Kirchner, 2009;Teuling et al, 2009), therefore soil moisture memory may induce persistence in these quantities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Propagation of soil moisture memory to streamflow and evapotranspiration in Europe

Orth

Seneviratne

2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract.As a key variable of the land-climate system soil moisture is a main driver of streamflow and evapotranspiration under certain conditions. Soil moisture furthermore exhibits outstanding memory (persistence) characteristics. Many studies also report distinct low frequency variations for streamflow, which are likely related to soil moisture memory. Using data from over 100 near-natural catchments located across Europe, we investigate in this study the connection between soil moisture memory and the respective memory of streamflow and evapotranspiration on different time scales. For this purpose we use a simple water balance model in which dependencies of runoff (normalised by precipitation) and evapotranspiration (normalised by radiation) on soil moisture are fitted using streamflow observations. The model therefore allows us to compute the memory characteristics of soil moisture, streamflow and evapotranspiration on the catchment scale. We find considerable memory in soil moisture and streamflow in many parts of the continent, and evapotranspiration also displays some memory at monthly time scale in some catchments. We show that the memory of streamflow and evapotranspiration jointly depend on soil moisture memory and on the strength of the coupling of streamflow and evapotranspiration to soil moisture. Furthermore, we find that the coupling strengths of streamflow and evapotranspiration to soil moisture depend on the shape of the fitted dependencies and on the variance of the meteorological forcing. To better interpret the magnitude of the respective memories across Europe, we finally provide a new perspective on hydrological memory by relating it to the mean duration required to recover from anomalies exceeding a certain threshold.

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Recycling of moisture in Europe: contribution of evaporation to variability in very wet and dry years

Cited by 37 publications

References 43 publications

A summer climate regime over Europe modulated by the North Atlantic Oscillation

A summer climate regime over Europe modulated by the North Atlantic Oscillation

Stable isotopes reveal sources of precipitation in the Qinghai Lake Basin of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Propagation of soil moisture memory to streamflow and evapotranspiration in Europe

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