The Contribution of Transpiration to Precipitation Over African Watersheds.

Autor: Te Wierik SA; Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands.; Governance and Inclusive Development University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands., Keune J; Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab Ghent University Ghent Belgium., Miralles DG; Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab Ghent University Ghent Belgium., Gupta J; Governance and Inclusive Development University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands., Artzy-Randrup YA; Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands., Gimeno L; Environmental Physics Laboratory (EPhysLab) Centro de Investigación Mariña Universidade de Vigo Vigo Spain., Nieto R; Environmental Physics Laboratory (EPhysLab) Centro de Investigación Mariña Universidade de Vigo Vigo Spain., Cammeraat LH; Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Water resources research [Water Resour Res] 2022 Nov; Vol. 58 (11), pp. e2021WR031721. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Oct 27.
DOI: 10.1029/2021WR031721
Abstrakt: The redistribution of biological (transpiration) and non-biological (interception loss, soil evaporation) fluxes of terrestrial evaporation via atmospheric circulation and precipitation is an important Earth system process. In vegetated ecosystems, transpiration dominates terrestrial evaporation and is thought to be crucial for regional moisture recycling and ecosystem functioning. However, the spatial and temporal variability in the dependency of precipitation on transpiration remains understudied, particularly in sparsely sampled regions like Africa. Here, we investigate how biological and non-biological sources of evaporation in Africa contribute to rainfall over the major watersheds in the continent. Our study is based on simulated atmospheric moisture trajectories derived from the Lagrangian model FLEXPART, driven by 1° resolution reanalysis data over 1981-2016. Using daily satellite-based fractions of transpiration over terrestrial evaporation, we isolate the contribution of vegetation to monthly rainfall. Furthermore, we highlight two watersheds (Congo and Senegal) for which we explore intra- and interannual variability of different precipitation sources, and where we find contrasting patterns of vegetation-sourced precipitation within and between years. Overall, our results show that almost 50% of the annual rainfall in Africa originates from transpiration, although the variability between watersheds is large (5%-68%). We conclude that, considering the current and projected patterns of land use change in Africa, a better understanding of the implications for continental-scale water availability is needed.
(© 2022 The Authors.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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