International collaboration with the participation of the universities of Vigo, Wuhan, Oxford, Reading and Princeton, the result of the extended trajectory of the CIM EPhysLab research group in climate diagnosis and modeling
An international team, including the University of Vigo and CIM researcher Luis Gimeno, carried out a study that aimed to analyze “what happens to the excesses of freshwater (evaporation minus precipitation) that occur in the oceans and that, due to climate change, will become increasingly frequent.” In it, they demonstrate how these excesses have intensified in recent decades and how they migrate towards land, towards the continents.
This international collaboration is the result of and adds to the extensive and recognized trajectory in climate diagnosis and modeling of the CIM EPhysLab research group. Research staff from the University of Vigo, the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, the universities of Oxford and Reading (United Kingdom) and Princeton (USA) participated in the study.
As part of the broader objective of studying what happens to excess freshwater in the oceans, this research focuses on understanding how these surpluses migrate, where they end up, and how they may affect precipitation over the continents. Its results were published in an article titled Excess water availability in northern mid-high latitudes contiguously migrated from ocean under climate change in the international journal Science Advances
Regarding the relevance and relevance of addressing this issue, the authors of the study point out that “the availability of terrestrial water supports livelihoods, socioeconomic development and ecosystems” but, they warn, “despite understanding the contributions of ocean moisture to terrestrial hydroclimatic extremes, it is still unclear whether surpluses of terrestrial water availability migrate directly and contiguously from the ocean or the influence of climate change on this process.”
Past, present and future
In the work, the international team computationally analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution of the surplus of water availability from ocean to land, using various climate simulation models, both historical (covering the years 1921 to 2020) and future projections (up to the year 2100). “In simple words, the study calculates oceanic regions where precipitation over them exceeds evaporation, and then how this surplus of water propagates spatially until reaching continental regions, subsequently being responsible for precipitation in these continental areas. This is done for past and present climate and for future scenarios,” summarizes the UVigo researcher.
Among the conclusions of the study carried out, Luis Gimeno indicates that “it has been observed that in recent decades, especially in the middle and high latitudes of the northern hemisphere (above 48°N), these excesses of oceanic freshwater have shown greater persistence, extension and intensity than the excesses of freshwater developed solely over land”. It has also been observed, he adds, that these excesses of oceanic freshwater migrated towards land and that these migrations are associated with different patterns of atmospheric teleconnection well known in the Atlantic and the Pacific”.
Likewise, using different CMIP6 models, which are the climate models used in the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the research observed “an intensification of these migration processes with climate change, which will significantly increase their influence on precipitation patterns over the continents, both for dynamical reasons (related to changes in atmospheric circulation) and thermodynamic reasons (related to increased humidity in the atmosphere)”. These changes in migration patterns, comments the UVigo physicist, “can have a major influence on regional precipitation and drought patterns in the long term”.
Professor Luis Gimeno’s participation in this study focused on the evaluation of moisture transport mechanisms and the differentiation of the mechanism proposed in this work (spatial propagation of excess precipitation minus evaporation) from other mechanisms of smaller spatial and temporal scale, such as atmospheric rivers, low-level jets and tropical cyclones. He also participated in the global interpretation of the results.
The CIM holds the CIGUS certification from the Regional Government of Galicia, which attests to the quality and impact of its research, and its activities are co-financed by the European Union through the 2021–2027 FEDER Program.
Source: DUVI
