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Climate change

Water cycle shifts gear

Nature volume 434, pages 830–833 (2005)Cite this article

Various studies indicate that the hydrological cycle is speeding up at high northern latitudes. The resulting increase in freshwater flow into the Arctic Ocean is predicted to have long-range effects.

Discussions of global climate change tend to focus on increasing surface temperatures. By contrast, changes in the water cycle — precipitation, evaporation and river discharge — have received little attention. Yet water has profound effects on our planet's climate. The natural greenhouse effect is caused primarily by water vapour; the radiative balance at the Earth's surface is modified by snow and ice cover; the distribution of vegetation types is sensitive to the local water balance; and regional climate patterns are influenced by ocean currents.

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Figure 1: The vast delta of the Lena River, Russia, which is some 250 km wide.

LANDSAT/USGS EROS DATA CENTER

Figure 2: Projected freshwater delivery to the ocean in the high northern (FN) and high southern (FS) latitudes.

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  1. the Division of Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, Bern, CH-3012, Switzerland

    Thomas F. Stocker & Christoph C. Raible

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  1. Thomas F. Stocker
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  2. Christoph C. Raible
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Stocker, T., Raible, C. Water cycle shifts gear. Nature 434, 830–833 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/434830a

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