How do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast Australia?
Groundwater plays an integral role in land-atmosphere interactions by connecting the sub-surface storage of water to transpiration via interactions with the root zone. The role of groundwater in moderating heatwave intensity has rarely been examined in coupled climate simulations, as many models ove...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Weather and Climate Extremes |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000615 |
| _version_ | 1811281190886309888 |
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| author | Mengyuan Mu Andrew J. Pitman Martin G. De Kauwe Anna M. Ukkola Jun Ge |
| author_facet | Mengyuan Mu Andrew J. Pitman Martin G. De Kauwe Anna M. Ukkola Jun Ge |
| author_sort | Mengyuan Mu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Groundwater plays an integral role in land-atmosphere interactions by connecting the sub-surface storage of water to transpiration via interactions with the root zone. The role of groundwater in moderating heatwave intensity has rarely been examined in coupled climate simulations, as many models overlook this key component of the water cycle. We use a coupled land-atmosphere model with an explicit representation of groundwater dynamics to analyze three major heatwave events in southeast Australia. Groundwater moistens and cools the land surface, with impacts extending to the top of the atmospheric boundary layer during heatwaves. Associated with the cooling, an increase of net radiation and a reduction in the atmospheric boundary layer height occurred, primarily over areas with a shallow water table depth and woody vegetation. The maximum air temperatures were reduced by up to 3 °C at the surface and up to 1 °C through the atmospheric boundary layer. Our results point to an important influence of groundwater on heatwave intensity, implying the necessity of considering groundwater dynamics in climate models in the future heatwave predications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T01:29:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d8f92b263b084c8c8ce0dfcf1ed6d53f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2212-0947 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T01:29:03Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Weather and Climate Extremes |
| spelling | doaj.art-d8f92b263b084c8c8ce0dfcf1ed6d53f2022-12-22T03:08:34ZengElsevierWeather and Climate Extremes2212-09472022-09-0137100479How do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast Australia?Mengyuan Mu0Andrew J. Pitman1Martin G. De Kauwe2Anna M. Ukkola3Jun Ge4ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Corresponding author.ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaInstitute for Climate and Global Change Research, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, ChinaGroundwater plays an integral role in land-atmosphere interactions by connecting the sub-surface storage of water to transpiration via interactions with the root zone. The role of groundwater in moderating heatwave intensity has rarely been examined in coupled climate simulations, as many models overlook this key component of the water cycle. We use a coupled land-atmosphere model with an explicit representation of groundwater dynamics to analyze three major heatwave events in southeast Australia. Groundwater moistens and cools the land surface, with impacts extending to the top of the atmospheric boundary layer during heatwaves. Associated with the cooling, an increase of net radiation and a reduction in the atmospheric boundary layer height occurred, primarily over areas with a shallow water table depth and woody vegetation. The maximum air temperatures were reduced by up to 3 °C at the surface and up to 1 °C through the atmospheric boundary layer. Our results point to an important influence of groundwater on heatwave intensity, implying the necessity of considering groundwater dynamics in climate models in the future heatwave predications.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000615 |
| spellingShingle | Mengyuan Mu Andrew J. Pitman Martin G. De Kauwe Anna M. Ukkola Jun Ge How do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast Australia? Weather and Climate Extremes |
| title | How do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast Australia? |
| title_full | How do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast Australia? |
| title_fullStr | How do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast Australia? |
| title_full_unstemmed | How do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast Australia? |
| title_short | How do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast Australia? |
| title_sort | how do groundwater dynamics influence heatwaves in southeast australia |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000615 |
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