The observed sensitivity of the global hydrological cycle to changes in surface temperature
Climate models project large changes in global surface temperature in coming decades that are expected to be accompanied by significant changes in the global hydrological cycle. Validation of model simulations is essential to support their use in decision making, but observing the elements of the hy...
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Published in | Environmental research letters Vol. 5; no. 3; p. 035201 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Bristol
IOP Publishing
01.07.2010
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Climate models project large changes in global surface temperature in coming decades that are expected to be accompanied by significant changes in the global hydrological cycle. Validation of model simulations is essential to support their use in decision making, but observing the elements of the hydrological cycle is challenging, and model-independent global data sets exist only for precipitation. We compute the sensitivity of the global hydrological cycle to changes in surface temperature using available global precipitation data sets and compare the results against the sensitivities derived from model simulations of 20th century climate. The implications of the results for the global climate observing system are discussed. |
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ISSN: | 1748-9326 1748-9326 |
DOI: | 10.1088/1748-9326/5/3/035201 |