Moisture recycling

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In

hydrologic cycle. The ratio of the locally derived precipitation (PL) to total precipitation (P) is known as the recycling ratio, ρ:[1]

The recycling ratio is a diagnostic measure of the potential for interactions between land surface hydrology and regional climate.[2][3][4][5] Land use changes, such as deforestation or agricultural intensification, have the potential to change the amount of precipitation that falls in a region. The recycling ratio for the entire world is one, and for a single point is zero. Estimates for the recycling ratio for the Amazon basin range from 24% to 56%, and for the Mississippi basin from 21% to 24%.[6]

The concept of moisture recycling has been integrated into the concept of the precipitationshed. A precipitationshed is the upwind ocean and land surface that contributes evaporation to a given, downwind location's precipitation. In much the same way that a watershed is defined by a topographically explicit area that provides surface runoff, the precipitationshed is a statistically defined area within which evaporation, traveling via moisture recycling, provides precipitation for a specific point.

See also

References

  1. ^ Eltahir, E.A. "Precipitation Recycling in the Amazon Basin" (PDF). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
  2. doi:10.1029/GL013i002p00121
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  3. S2CID 59584165
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  4. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<1077:eocpr>2.0.co;2
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  5. ISSN 1944-7973
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  6. ^ Moisture recycling Archived January 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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