ABSTRACT
Terrestrial moisture recycling (TMR), characterized by a continuous process comprising green water flow (i.e., terrestrial evaporation), atmospheric transport, and terrestrial precipitation, functions as a nexus connecting hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere. During this process, land cover changes that impact green water flow can modify regional and remote precipitation patterns, potentially yielding far-reaching effects on water resources and human livelihoods. However, the comprehensive patterns of moisture recycling and transfer across eco-geographical regions in China, and their connection with various land cover types and vegetation transitions, remain insufficiently evaluated. This study employed an atmospheric moisture tracking model to quantify China's TMR pattern and evaluate the hydrological impacts of vegetation cover changes in China's ecosystems through TMR. The results demonstrate a significant moisture recycling ratio (52.4 %) and a considerable recycled volume (1.9 trillion m3/a) over China, characterized by pronounced moisture transfer from south to north and southwest to northeast. Among various land cover types, grasslands, croplands, and forests play pivotal supportive roles in China's TMR, contributing 738.8, 470.0, and 450.0 billion m3/a of precipitation in China, respectively. Moreover, the potential transition of vegetation between forest and cropland exerts the most significant and extensive impact on China's hydrological cycle. The conversion from forest to cropland leads to a total decrease of 44.7 billion m3/a in precipitation, whereas reforestation from cropland corresponds to a precipitation increase of 74.9 billion m3/a. This study provides a quantitative approach to comprehending the TMR pattern and its relationship with ecosystems, substantiating the significance of a comprehensive water management framework that considers the contribution of atmospheric moisture recycling and the impact of vegetation cover change.
ABSTRACT
Land surface temperatures (LSTs) are strongly shaped by radiation but are modulated by turbulent fluxes and hydrologic cycling as the presence of water vapor in the atmosphere (clouds) and at the surface (evaporation) affects temperatures across regions. Here, we used a thermodynamic systems framework forced with independent observations to show that the climatological variations in LSTs across dry and humid regions are mainly mediated through radiative effects. We first show that the turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat are constrained by thermodynamics and the local radiative conditions. This constraint arises from the ability of radiative heating at the surface to perform work to maintain turbulent fluxes and sustain vertical mixing within the convective boundary layer. This implies that reduced evaporative cooling in dry regions is then compensated for by an increased sensible heat flux and buoyancy, which is consistent with observations. We show that the mean temperature variation across dry and humid regions is mainly controlled by clouds that reduce surface heating by solar radiation. Using satellite observations for cloudy and clear-sky conditions, we show that clouds cool the land surface over humid regions by up to 7 K, while in arid regions, this effect is absent due to the lack of clouds. We conclude that radiation and thermodynamic limits are the primary controls on LSTs and turbulent flux exchange which leads to an emergent simplicity in the observed climatological patterns within the complex climate system.
