Robust Responses of the Hydrological Cycle to Global Warming

Isaac M. Held; Brian J. Soden

doi:10.1175/jcli3990.1

journal article Nov 01, 2006

Robust Responses of the Hydrological Cycle to Global Warming

Isaac M. Held

Brian J. Soden

Journal of Climate Vol. 19 No. 21 pp. 5686-5699 · American Meteorological Society

View at Publisher Save 10.1175/jcli3990.1

Abstract

Abstract
Using the climate change experiments generated for the Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this study examines some aspects of the changes in the hydrological cycle that are robust across the models. These responses include the decrease in convective mass fluxes, the increase in horizontal moisture transport, the associated enhancement of the pattern of evaporation minus precipitation and its temporal variance, and the decrease in the horizontal sensible heat transport in the extratropics. A surprising finding is that a robust decrease in extratropical sensible heat transport is found only in the equilibrium climate response, as estimated in slab ocean responses to the doubling of CO2, and not in transient climate change scenarios. All of these robust responses are consequences of the increase in lower-tropospheric water vapor.

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4,119

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References

Details

Published: Nov 01, 2006
Vol/Issue: 19(21)
Pages: 5686-5699

Authors

I

Isaac M. Held

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey

B

Brian J. Soden

Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida

Cite This Article

Isaac M. Held, Brian J. Soden (2006). Robust Responses of the Hydrological Cycle to Global Warming. Journal of Climate, 19(21), 5686-5699. https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli3990.1

Robust Responses of the Hydrological Cycle to Global Warming

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