A new study by researchers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney shows at least twice as much fresh water shifted from warm regions toward Earth's poles than previously thought in climate model predictions.
This refers to broader changes in the continuous movement of fresh water between clouds, land and the ocean, known as the "Earth's Water Cycle", which describes the movement of water evaporating from the ground, as it rises to the atmosphere, cools and condenses in the form of rain or snow to fall back to the surface of the earth.
According to the press release issued by the University of New South Wales in Sydney, this Earth's water cycle plays an important role in our daily lives, as this delicate system transports water from the ocean to the land, helping to make our environment habitable.
But climate change and rising global temperatures have made water move away from dry areas towards wet areas, causing droughts to exacerbate in parts of the world, with intensification of rainfall and flooding events in other areas. In other words, wet areas have become more humid. And dry areas are becoming drier.
At least twice as much fresh water shifts from warm regions toward Earth's poles (Shutterstock)
Earth's water cycle intensifies
In their study, the researchers used changing patterns of ocean salt to estimate how much fresh ocean water has moved from the equator to the poles since 1970.
According to the study, published in the journal Nature on February 23, climate change has intensified the Earth's water cycle by up to 7.4%, compared to previous modeling estimates ranging from 2% to 4%.
According to the report published on the "The Conversation" website, this shift and intensification of the Earth's water cycle is more than what climate models predicted, prompting researchers to study how the Earth's water cycle in general has amplified.
"We already knew from previous work that the Earth's water cycle is condensing, but we didn't know to what extent," said lead author of the study Dr. .
"The movement of fresh water from warm regions to cold regions constitutes the lion's share of water transport, as our findings paint a picture of the larger changes that occur in the Earth's water cycle," added Timur.
Change in the water cycle has a critical impact on infrastructure, agriculture and biodiversity (Shutterstock)
ocean salinity measurement
According to the statement, the researchers reached these results by analyzing observations on 3 sets of data covering the period from 1970 until 2014, but instead of focusing on direct precipitation observations - which may be difficult to measure across the ocean - they focused on a more Surprisingly, the extent of the salinity of the water in each region of the oceans.
“In warmer regions, evaporation removes fresh water from the ocean leaving salt behind, which makes the ocean more salty, as the water cycle takes That fresh water flows to cooler areas and falls as rain, making the ocean less salty.”
"In other words, the water cycle leaves an imprint on the ocean's salinization pattern, and by measuring these patterns, researchers can track how the cycle changes over time."
Study results help make future improvements to climate models (Shutterstock)
The effect of the Earth's water cycle
The team estimates that between 1970 and 2014, an additional 46,000 to 77,000 cubic kilometers of fresh water was transferred from the equator to the poles more than expected, which means a condensation in the water cycle of about 7%, or a 7% increase in rain over Wet areas, and a 7% decrease in rain in dry areas.
“Changes in the water cycle have a critical impact on infrastructure, agriculture and biodiversity, so it is important to understand the way climate change affects the water cycle now and in the future,” says Dr. Sohail.
Dr. Sohail adds, "These results recommend that future improvements should be made to climate models, and this finding that our study carried can help improve those future estimates."