Abstract
Global change is altering hydrologic regimes worldwide, including large basins that play a central role in the sustainability of human societies and ecosystems. The basin water budget is a fundamental framework for understanding these basins' sensitivity and future dynamics under changing forcings. In this budget, studies often treat atmospheric processes as external to the basin and assume that atmosphere-related water storage changes are negligible in the long term. These assumptions are potentially misleading in large basins with strong land-atmosphere feedbacks, including terrestrial moisture recycling, which is critical for global water distribution. Here, we introduce the land-atmosphere reservoir (LAR) concept, which includes atmospheric processes as a critical component of the basin water budget and use it to study long-term changes in the water storage of some of the world's largest basins. Our results show significant LAR water storage trends over the last 4 decades, with a marked latitudinal contrast: while low-latitude basins have accumulated water, high-latitude basins have been drying. If they continue, these trends will disrupt the discharge regime and compromise the sustainability of these basins, resulting in widespread impacts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2919-2947 |
| Number of pages | 29 |
| Journal | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 13 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 4 2024 |
Funding
This research has been supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (MINCIENCIAS; grant no. 1115-852-70719), the National Science Foundation (grant nos. EAR-1830172, OIA-2020814, and OIA-2312326), and the US Department of Energy (the WADE SFA at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the IDEAS-Watersheds project, and the ExaSheds project). Juan F. Salazar (lead investigator), Ruben D. Molina and Jorge I. Zuluaga were funded by the Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Minciencias) through the SOS-Cuenca research program "SOStenibilidad de sistemas ecológicos y sociales en la CUENCA Magdalena-Cauca bajo escenarios de cambio climático y pérdida de bosques"(grant no. 1115-852-70719) with funds from "Patrimonio Autónomo Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento para la Ciencia, la Tecnología y la Innovación, Fondo Francisco José de Caldas". Jesus D. Gomez-Velez was funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research program. This work is a product of two programs: (i) the Environmental System Science Program, as part of the Watershed Dynamics and Evolution (WADE) science focus area (SFA) at ORNL and the IDEAS-Watersheds project, and (ii) the Data Management program, as part of the ExaSheds project. Additional support was provided by the National Science Foundation (grant nos. EAR-1830172, OIA-2020814, and OIA-2312326). Juan F. Salazar (lead investigator), Ruben D. Molina,, and Jorge I. Zuluaga were funded by the Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Minciencias) through the SOS-Cuenca research program “SOStenibilidad de sistemas ecológicos y sociales en la CUENCA Magdalena-Cauca bajo escenarios de cambio climático y pérdida de bosques” (grant no. 1115-852-70719) with funds from “Patrimonio Autónomo Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento para la Ciencia, la Tecnología y la Innovación, Fondo Francisco José de Caldas”. Jesus D. Gomez-Velez was funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research program. This work is a product of two programs: (i) the Environmental System Science Program, as part of the Watershed Dynamics and Evolution (WADE) science focus area (SFA) at ORNL and the IDEAS-Watersheds project, and (ii) the Data Management program, as part of the ExaSheds project. Additional support was provided by the National Science Foundation (grant nos. EAR-1830172, OIA-2020814, and OIA-2312326). This research has been supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (MINCIENCIAS; grant no. 1115-852-70719), the National Science Foundation (grant nos. EAR-1830172, OIA-2020814, and OIA-2312326), and the US Department of Energy (the WADE SFA at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the IDEAS-Watersheds project, and the ExaSheds project).