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Acceleration of the hydrological cycle under global warming? An age-weighted regional water tagging approach
  • +15
  • Jianhui Wei,
  • Joel Arnault,
  • Thomas Rummler,
  • Benjamin Fersch,
  • Zhenyu Zhang,
  • Patrick Olschewski,
  • Patrick Laux,
  • Ningpeng Dong,
  • Qianya Yang,
  • Zikang Xing,
  • Xin Li,
  • Chuanguo Yang,
  • Xuejun Zhang,
  • Miaomiao Ma,
  • Lu Gao,
  • Ligang Xu,
  • Zhongbo Yu,
  • Harald Günter Kunstmann
Jianhui Wei
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Joel Arnault
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT
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Thomas Rummler
University of Augsburg
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Benjamin Fersch
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
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Zhenyu Zhang
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU)
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Patrick Olschewski
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Campus Alpin
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Patrick Laux
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
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Ningpeng Dong
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research
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Qianya Yang
Nanchang Institute of Technology
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Zikang Xing
Hohai University
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Xin Li
Hohai University
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Chuanguo Yang
State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, HoHai University, Nanjing 210098, PR China
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Xuejun Zhang
China Institue of Water Resources and Hydropower Research
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Miaomiao Ma
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research
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Lu Gao
Fujian Normal University
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Ligang Xu
Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Zhongbo Yu
Hohai University
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Harald Günter Kunstmann
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
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Abstract

Global warming is assumed to accelerate the global water cycle. However, quantification of the acceleration and regional analyses remain open. Accordingly, in this study we address the fundamental hydrological question: Is the water cycle regionally accelerating/decelerating under global warming? For our investigation we have implemented the age-weighted regional water tagging approach into the Weather Research and Forecasting WRF model, namely WRF-age, to follow the atmospheric water pathways and to derive atmospheric water residence times accordingly. Moreover, we have implemented the three-dimensional online budget analysis of the total, tagged, and aged atmospheric water into WRF-age to provide a prognostic equation of the atmospheric water residence times. The newly developed, physics-based WRF-age model is used to regionally downscale the reanalysis of ERA-Interim and the MPI-ESM Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 scenario (RCP8.5) simulation exemplarily for an East Asian monsoon region, i.e., the Poyang Lake basin (the tagged moisture source area), for two 10-year slices of historical (1980-1989) and future (2040-2049) times. In comparison to the historical simulation, the future 2-meter temperature rises by +1.4 °C, evaporation increases by +6%, and precipitation decreases by -38% under RCP8.5 on average. In this context, global warming leads to regionally decreased residence times for the tagged water vapor by 8 hours and the tagged condensed moisture by 12 hours in the atmosphere, but increased transit times for the tagged precipitation by 4 hours over the land surface that is partly attributed to a slower fallout of precipitating moisture components in the atmosphere under global warming.
18 May 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
25 May 2023Published in ESS Open Archive