The contribution of reduction in evaporative cooling to higher surface air temperatures during drought

Yin, Dafei; Roderick, Michael L.; Leech, Guy; Sun, Fubao; Huang, Yuefei

doi:10.1002/2014gl062039

Cited by 107 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…In 2016, ETo was above average in all months after January, highest on record in November, and highest on record when averaged over Sep‐Nov. While high ETo is to be expected in drought years due to increased solar radiation from reduced cloud cover and enhanced sensible heat flux at the expense of latent heat flux (e.g., Koster et al, ; Seneviratne et al, ; Yin et al, ), the record‐high ETo anomaly in Sep‐Nov 2016 was considerably larger than that expected based on established relationships with Sep‐Nov precipitation and SM MCDI (Figures d and e).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

The 2016 Southeastern U.S. Drought: An Extreme Departure From Centennial Wetting and Cooling

et al. 2017

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The fall 2016 drought in the southeastern United States (SE U.S.) appeared exceptional based on its widespread impacts, but the current monitoring framework that only extends from 1979 to present does not readily facilitate evaluation of soil‐moisture anomalies in a centennial context. A new method to extend monthly gridded soil‐moisture estimates back to 1895 is developed, indicating that since 1895, October–November 2016 soil moisture (0–200 cm) in the SE U.S. was likely the second lowest on record, behind 1954. This severe drought developed rapidly and was brought on by low September–November precipitation and record‐high September–November daily maximum temperatures (Tmax). Record‐high Tmax drove record‐high atmospheric moisture demand, accounting for 28% of the October–November 2016 soil‐moisture anomaly. Drought and heat in fall 2016 contrasted with 20th century wetting and cooling in the region but resembled conditions more common from 1895–1956. Dynamically, the exceptional drying in fall 2016 was driven by anomalous ridging over the central United States that reduced south‐southwesterly moisture transports into the SE U.S. by approximately 75%. These circulation anomalies were partly promoted by a moderate La Niña and warmth in the tropical Atlantic, but these processes accounted for very little of the SE U.S. drying in fall 2016, implying a large role for internal atmospheric variability. The extended analysis back to 1895 indicates that SE U.S. droughts as strong as the 2016 event are more likely than indicated from a shorter 60 year perspective and continued multidecadal swings in precipitation may combine with future warming to further enhance the likelihood of such events.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

The 2016 Southeastern U.S. Drought: An Extreme Departure From Centennial Wetting and Cooling

et al. 2017

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“…Over drylands, low precipitation and soil moisture content, which are the inputs to dryland water cycles, limit the evaporation and transpiration associated with low vegetation cover [ Yin et al ., ], resulting in a low mean latent heat flux of 16.12 W/m 2 over drylands compared with 66.49 W/m 2 over humid lands (Figure ). To release the heating from solar and infrared radiation through sensible heat fluxes, surface temperatures over drylands must rise sharply to create a large land‐air temperature difference.…”

Section: Impacts Of Atmosphere‐land Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dryland climate change: Recent progress and challenges

Huang

et al. 2017

Reviews of Geophysics

635

331

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Drylands are home to more than 38% of the world's population and are one of the most sensitive areas to climate change and human activities. This review describes recent progress in dryland climate change research. Recent findings indicate that the long‐term trend of the aridity index (AI) is mainly attributable to increased greenhouse gas emissions, while anthropogenic aerosols exert small effects but alter its attributions. Atmosphere‐land interactions determine the intensity of regional response. The largest warming during the last 100 years was observed over drylands and accounted for more than half of the continental warming. The global pattern and interdecadal variability of aridity changes are modulated by oceanic oscillations. The different phases of those oceanic oscillations induce significant changes in land‐sea and north‐south thermal contrasts, which affect the intensity of the westerlies and planetary waves and the blocking frequency, thereby altering global changes in temperature and precipitation. During 1948–2008, the drylands in the Americas became wetter due to enhanced westerlies, whereas the drylands in the Eastern Hemisphere became drier because of the weakened East Asian summer monsoon. Drylands as defined by the AI have expanded over the last 60 years and are projected to expand in the 21st century. The largest expansion of drylands has occurred in semiarid regions since the early 1960s. Dryland expansion will lead to reduced carbon sequestration and enhanced regional warming. The increasing aridity, enhanced warming, and rapidly growing population will exacerbate the risk of land degradation and desertification in the near future in developing countries.

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“…Nevertheless, we focus here on the primary meteorological quantity associated with dry conditions, namely, precipitation. In addition, we also consider conditions in near-surface air temperature, which can affect surface drying through increased evaporative demand in warmer air, although the latter can also result from soil drying associated with meteorological drought itself (e.g., Mueller and Seneviratne 2012;Sheffield et al 2012;Yin et al 2014). We begin with an overview of the interannual variability of both precipitation and temperature.…”

Section: Overview Of Large-scale Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Meteorological Drought: A Synthesis of Current Understanding with a Focus on SST Drivers of Precipitation Deficits

et al. 2016

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Drought affects virtually every region of the world, and potential shifts in its character in a changing climate are a major concern. This article presents a synthesis of current understanding of meteorological drought, with a focus on the large-scale controls on precipitation afforded by sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies, land surface feedbacks, and radiative forcings. The synthesis is primarily based on regionally focused articles submitted to the Global Drought Information System (GDIS) collection together with new results from a suite of atmospheric general circulation model experiments intended to integrate those studies into a coherent view of drought worldwide. On interannual time scales, the preeminence of ENSO as a driver of meteorological drought throughout much of the Americas, eastern Asia, Australia, and the Maritime Continent is now well established, whereas in other regions (e.g., Europe, Africa, and India), the response to ENSO is more ephemeral or nonexistent. Northern Eurasia, central Europe, and central and eastern Canada stand out as regions with few SSTforced impacts on precipitation on interannual time scales. Decadal changes in SST appear to be a major factor in the occurrence of long-term drought, as highlighted by apparent impacts on precipitation of the late 1990s ''climate shifts'' in the Pacific and Atlantic SST. Key remaining research challenges include (i) better quantification of unforced and forced atmospheric variability as well as land-atmosphere feedbacks, (ii) better understanding of the physical basis for the leading modes of climate variability and their predictability, and (iii) quantification of the relative contributions of internal decadal SST variability and forced climate change to long-term drought.

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The contribution of reduction in evaporative cooling to higher surface air temperatures during drought

Cited by 107 publications

References 34 publications

The 2016 Southeastern U.S. Drought: An Extreme Departure From Centennial Wetting and Cooling

The 2016 Southeastern U.S. Drought: An Extreme Departure From Centennial Wetting and Cooling

Dryland climate change: Recent progress and challenges

Global Meteorological Drought: A Synthesis of Current Understanding with a Focus on SST Drivers of Precipitation Deficits

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