Drying in the low-latitude Atlantic Ocean contributed to terrestrial water storage depletion across Eurasia

Abstract Eurasia, home to ~70% of global population, is characterized by (semi-)arid climate. Water scarcity in the mid-latitude Eurasia (MLE) has been exacerbated by a consistent decline in terrestrial water storage (TWS), attributed primarily to human activities. However, the atmospheric mechanism...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Shen, Zexi, Zhang, Qiang, Singh, Vijay P., Pokhrel, Yadu, Liu, Jianping, Xu, Chong-Yu, Wu, Wenhuan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2022
Subjects:
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10852/94359
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-96905
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29544-6
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Summary:Abstract Eurasia, home to ~70% of global population, is characterized by (semi-)arid climate. Water scarcity in the mid-latitude Eurasia (MLE) has been exacerbated by a consistent decline in terrestrial water storage (TWS), attributed primarily to human activities. However, the atmospheric mechanisms behind such TWS decline remain unclear. Here, we investigate teleconnections between drying in low-latitude North Atlantic Ocean (LNATO) and TWS depletions across MLE. We elucidate mechanistic linkages and detecte high correlations between decreased TWS in MLE and the decreased precipitation-minus-evapotranspiration (PME) in LNATO. TWS in MLE declines by ~257% during 2003-2017 due to northeastward propagation of PME deficit following two distinct seasonal landfalling routes during January-May and June-January. The same mechanism reduces TWS during 2031-2050 by ~107% and ~447% under scenarios SSP245 and SSP585, respectively. Our findings highlight the risk of increased future water scarcity across MLE caused by large-scale climatic drivers, compounding the impacts of human activities.

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