The Budyko and complementary relationships in an idealized model of large-scale land–atmosphere coupling

Two well-known relationships in hydrology and hydrometeorology, the Budyko and complementary relationships, are examined within an idealized prototype representing the physics of large-scale land-atmosphere coupling developed in prior work. These relationships are shown to hold on long (climatologic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hydrology and earth system sciences 2015-05, Vol.19 (5), p.2119-2131
Main Authors: Lintner, B R, Gentine, P, Findell, K L, Salvucci, G D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advection
Anthropogenic factors
Atmosphere
Atmospheric radiation
Atmospherics
Climate change
Climatology
Coupling
Downward long wave radiation
Evaporation
Evaporation rate
Evapotranspiration
Global warming
Human influences
Humidity
Hydrologic cycle
Hydrological cycle
Hydrology
Hydrometeorology
Irrigation
Land
Moisture
Physics
Potential evaporation
Precipitation
Prototypes
Radiation
Rainfall
Saturation
Slopes
Specific humidity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Two well-known relationships in hydrology and hydrometeorology, the Budyko and complementary relationships, are examined within an idealized prototype representing the physics of large-scale land-atmosphere coupling developed in prior work. These relationships are shown to hold on long (climatologic) timescales because of the tight coupling that exists between precipitation, atmospheric radiation, moisture convergence and advection. The slope of the CR is shown to be dependent on the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship between saturation-specific humidity and temperature, with important implications for the continental hydrologic cycle in a warming climate; e.g., one consequence of this dependence is that the CR may be expected to become more asymmetric with warming, as higher values of the slope imply a larger change in potential evaporation for a given change in evapotranspiration. In addition, the transparent physics of the prototype permits diagnosis of the sensitivity of the Budyko and complementary relationships to various atmospheric and land surface processes. Here, the impacts of anthropogenic influences, including large-scale irrigation and global warming, are assessed.
ISSN:1607-7938
1027-5606
1607-7938
DOI:10.5194/hess-19-2119-2015