On the Increased Precipitation Recycling by Large-Scale Irrigation over the Haihe Plain

Irrigation not only plays an important role in global food security,but it also affects aspects of the regional climate,including precipitation.In this study,we proposed a simple and convenient method to quantify the contribution of large-scale irrigation to precipitation by distinguishing the amount of evaporation generated by irrigation from local evaporation based on the precipitation recycling method.A case study was presented to show the increased precipitation recycling ratio and the contribution of irrigation to precipitation during the main irrigation period in the Haihe Plain from 1961 to 2016.We found that the average precipitation recycling rates in the Haihe Plain are 8.32%,9.74%,and 10.36%in April,May,and June,respectively.The contribution rates of irrigation to precipitation in the Haihe Plain are 3.76%,5.12%,and 2.29%in April,May,and June,respectively.The total contribution of irrigation to precipitation during the main irrigation period is 3.77 mm;the respective contributions in April,May,and June are 0.72,1.70,and 1.35 mm.The contribution of irrigation to local precipitation is relatively small as the inflow of atmospheric moisture during the irrigation period is still the main factor affecting local precipitation.Nevertheless,this part of the precipitation during the irrigation period alleviates the water shortage in the Haihe Plain to some extent.

Precipitation recycling ratio and water vapor sources on the Tibetan Plateau

Precipitation recycling ratio(i.e.,evaporation-precipitation feedback strength)and water vapor sources are two key aspects of regional water cycle,and their quantification is essential for understanding water cycle processes and their changes.The results of existing studies on the precipitation recycling ratio and water vapor sources for the Tibetan Plateau were highly controversial.This article clarifies different frameworks for understanding the water cycle.It points out that(1)the ratio of evaporation to precipitation depends mainly on climate regimes,while the precipitation recycling ratio is closely related to both the climate regimes and the scale of the region of interest,and(2)the water vapor sources depend on the traced period(precipitating or non-precipitating period)and the degree of tracing.Within the same theoretical framework,there is no fundamental conflict among the results of different studies on the water cycle in the Tibetan Plateau.

Contributions of Local and Remote Atmospheric Moisture Fluxes to East China Precipitation Estimated from CRA-40 Reanalysis

China Meteorological Administration(CMA) recently released its 40-yr(1979–2018) global Chinese reanalysis(CRA-40) dataset. To assess performance of the CRA-40 data in quantifying the regional water cycle, contributions of local and remote atmospheric moisture fluxes to precipitation in East China derived from CRA-40 are compared with those derived from the ECMWF reanalysis version 5(ERA-5). Observed precipitation and evaporation data are also used for validation. As for mean precipitation, CRA-40 matches the observation better in winter and spring than in summer, with a larger wet bias(1.41 mm day^(-1)) in summer than that in ERA-5(0.97 mm day^(-1)), particularly over South China. The conservation of atmospheric water vapor over East China measured by CRA-40 is comparable to that of ERA-5. Both reanalyses show a dominant role of the remote moisture transport in the East China precipitation.In comparison, the annual precipitation induced by the moisture influx from the west of the study domain in CRA-40 is 80 mm less than that in ERA-5. The recycling ratio of annual mean precipitation in CRA-40 is approximately21.1%, slightly larger than that in ERA-5(20.1%). The maximum difference of each hydrological component between the two datasets appears in the summer horizontal moisture influx(3.57 ×10^(7) kg s^(-1);ERA-5 is larger) and winter runoff(1.84 ×10^(7) kg s^(-1);CRA-40 is larger). CRA-40 shows better performance than ERA-5 in capturing the interannual variability of precipitation over East China, as evinced by a higher correlation coefficient with the observation(0.77 versus 0.33). The trend of summer precipitation since 2011 is better reproduced in CRA-40. Both reanalyses show prominent contribution of the southern moisture influx to the interannual variation of precipitation. This study demonstrates the reliability of CRA-40 in representing the hydrological cycle over East China and provides a useful reference for future application of CRA-40 in water cycle studies.