NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
Atmospheric water vapor transport: Estimation of continental precipitation recycling and parameterization of a simple climate modelThe advective transport of atmospheric water vapor and its role in global hydrology and the water balance of continental regions are discussed and explored. The data set consists of ten years of global wind and humidity observations interpolated onto a regular grid by objective analysis. Atmospheric water vapor fluxes across the boundaries of selected continental regions are displayed graphically. The water vapor flux data are used to investigate the sources of continental precipitation. The total amount of water that precipitates on large continental regions is supplied by two mechanisms: (1) advection from surrounding areas external to the region; and (2) evaporation and transpiration from the land surface recycling of precipitation over the continental area. The degree to which regional precipitation is supplied by recycled moisture is a potentially significant climate feedback mechanism and land surface-atmosphere interaction, which may contribute to the persistence and intensification of droughts. A simplified model of the atmospheric moisture over continents and simultaneous estimates of regional precipitation are employed to estimate, for several large continental regions, the fraction of precipitation that is locally derived. In a separate, but related, study estimates of ocean to land water vapor transport are used to parameterize an existing simple climate model, containing both land and ocean surfaces, that is intended to mimic the dynamics of continental climates.
Document ID
19910018381
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Thesis/Dissertation
Authors
Brubaker, Kaye L. (Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Cambridge, MA, United States)
Entekhabi, Dara (Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Cambridge, MA, United States)
Eagleson, Peter S. (Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Cambridge, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1991
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
R91-18
MIT-TR-333
NASA-CR-188647
NAS 1.26:188647
Accession Number
91N27695
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-743
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available