Soil moisture–atmosphere coupling accelerates global warming

Soil moisture–atmosphere coupling (SA) amplifies greenhouse gas-driven global warming via changes in surface heat balance. The Scenario Model Intercomparison Project projects an acceleration in SA-driven warming due to the ‘warmer climate – drier soil’ feedback, which continuously warms the globe an...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Qiao, Liang, Zuo, Zhiyan, Zhang, Renhe, Piao, Shilong, Xiao, Dong, Zhang, Kaiwen
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2023
Subjects:
Article
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10427638/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37582806
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40641-y
Description
Summary:Soil moisture–atmosphere coupling (SA) amplifies greenhouse gas-driven global warming via changes in surface heat balance. The Scenario Model Intercomparison Project projects an acceleration in SA-driven warming due to the ‘warmer climate – drier soil’ feedback, which continuously warms the globe and thereby exerts an acceleration effect on global warming. The projection shows that SA-driven warming exceeds 0.5 °C over extratropical landmasses by the end of the 21st Century. The likelihood of extreme high temperatures will additionally increase by about 10% over the entire globe (excluding Antarctica) and more than 30% over large parts of North America and Europe under the high-emission scenario. This demonstrates the high sensitivity of SA to climate change, in which SA can exceed the natural range of climate variability and play a non-linear warming component role on the globe.

Similar Items