Effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous US
An understanding of the role of hydro-climatic and geographic regimes on regional actual evapotranspiration (AET) change is essential to improving our knowledge on predicting water availability in a changing climate. This study investigates the relationship between AET change for a 60 year period (1...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044002 |
| _version_ | 1797748070572621824 |
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| author | Il Won Jung Heejun Chang John Risley |
| author_facet | Il Won Jung Heejun Chang John Risley |
| author_sort | Il Won Jung |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An understanding of the role of hydro-climatic and geographic regimes on regional actual evapotranspiration (AET) change is essential to improving our knowledge on predicting water availability in a changing climate. This study investigates the relationship between AET change for a 60 year period (1951–2010) and the runoff sensitivity in 255 undisturbed catchments over the US. The runoff sensitivity to climate change is simply defined as the relative magnitude between runoff and precipitation changes with time. Runoff sensitivity can readily explain the conflicting directions of AET changes under similar precipitation change. Under increasing precipitation, AET decreases when runoff is increasing more rapidly than precipitation based on the water balance. Conversely, AET increases when runoff is decreasing more rapidly than precipitation. This result indicates that runoff sensitivity to climate change is a key factor for understanding regional water availability change at the catchment scale. In addition, a stepwise multiple regression analysis and a geographically weighted regression analysis show that the portion of evergreen forest and the mean elevation of a catchment may play a secondary role in the spatial pattern of the AET change, and the relative importance of such explanatory variables may change over space. |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-842afd0da0ac4b2e9f9ea7dffaf44640 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:42Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-842afd0da0ac4b2e9f9ea7dffaf446402023-08-09T14:39:48ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262013-01-018404400210.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044002Effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous USIl Won Jung0Heejun Chang1John Risley2Climate Research Department, APEC Climate Center , Busan, KoreaDepartment of Geography, Portland State University , Portland, USAUnited States Geological Survey, Oregon Water Science Center , Portland, USAAn understanding of the role of hydro-climatic and geographic regimes on regional actual evapotranspiration (AET) change is essential to improving our knowledge on predicting water availability in a changing climate. This study investigates the relationship between AET change for a 60 year period (1951–2010) and the runoff sensitivity in 255 undisturbed catchments over the US. The runoff sensitivity to climate change is simply defined as the relative magnitude between runoff and precipitation changes with time. Runoff sensitivity can readily explain the conflicting directions of AET changes under similar precipitation change. Under increasing precipitation, AET decreases when runoff is increasing more rapidly than precipitation based on the water balance. Conversely, AET increases when runoff is decreasing more rapidly than precipitation. This result indicates that runoff sensitivity to climate change is a key factor for understanding regional water availability change at the catchment scale. In addition, a stepwise multiple regression analysis and a geographically weighted regression analysis show that the portion of evergreen forest and the mean elevation of a catchment may play a secondary role in the spatial pattern of the AET change, and the relative importance of such explanatory variables may change over space.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044002actual evapotranspirationrunoff sensitivitywater availabilitygeographically weighted regression |
| spellingShingle | Il Won Jung Heejun Chang John Risley Effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous US Environmental Research Letters actual evapotranspiration runoff sensitivity water availability geographically weighted regression |
| title | Effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous US |
| title_full | Effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous US |
| title_fullStr | Effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous US |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous US |
| title_short | Effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous US |
| title_sort | effects of runoff sensitivity and catchment characteristics on regional actual evapotranspiration trends in the conterminous us |
| topic | actual evapotranspiration runoff sensitivity water availability geographically weighted regression |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044002 |
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