Letter abstract
Nature Geoscience 1, 665 - 669 (2008)
Published online: 28 September 2008 | doi:10.1038/ngeo315
Subject Categories: Hydrology, hydrogeology and limnology | Climate science
Interdependence of groundwater dynamics and land-energy feedbacks under climate change
Reed M. Maxwell1 & Stefan J. Kollet2
Climate change will have a significant impact on the hydrologic cycle, creating changes in freshwater resources, land cover and land–atmosphere feedbacks. Recent studies have investigated the response of groundwater to climate change but do not account for energy feedbacks across the complete hydrologic cycle1, 2. Although land-surface models have begun to include an operational groundwater-type component3, 4, 5, they do not include physically based lateral surface and subsurface flow and allow only for vertical transport processes. Here we use a variably saturated groundwater flow model with integrated overland flow and land-surface model processes6, 7, 8 to examine the interplay between water and energy flows in a changing climate for the southern Great Plains, USA, an important agricultural region that is susceptible to drought. We compare three scenario simulations with modified atmospheric forcing in terms of temperature and precipitation with a simulation of present-day climate. We find that groundwater depth, which results from lateral water flow at the surface and subsurface, determines the relative susceptibility of regions to changes in temperature and precipitation. This groundwater control is critical to understand processes of recharge and drought in a changing climate.
- Atmospheric, Earth and Energy Sciences Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (L-103), 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550, USA
- Metereological Institute, Bonn University, Auf dem Huegel 20, 53121 Bonn, Germany
Correspondence to: Reed M. Maxwell1 Current address: Department of Geology and Geologic Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA
Correspondence to: Reed M. Maxwell1 e-mail: rmaxwell@mines.edu
Correspondence to: Stefan J. Kollet2 e-mail: stefan.kollet@uni-bonn.de
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Hydrology Water from on highNature News and Views (30 Nov 2006)
Environmental science Poisoned waters traced to sourceNature News and Views (24 Jul 2008)
See all 5 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Climate-driven flushing of pore water in peatlandsNature Letters to Editor (06 Apr 1995)
Seasonal oscillations in water exchange between aquifers and the coastal oceanNature Letters to Editor (25 Aug 2005)
Permeability enhancement in the shallow crust as a cause of earthquake-induced hydrological changesNature Letters to Editor (19 Jan 1995)
See all 26 matches for Research
