Shi et al. (2025) Amplified Global Seasonality in Water Availability over Land in Recent Decades

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Climate
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-13
• Authors: Wenbo Shi, Fubo Zhao, Qichen Wang, Yiping Wu, Shuguang Liu, Qiang Li, Dengfeng Liu
• DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-24-0768.1

Research Groups

Not explicitly mentioned in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study quantified global seasonal precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P-E) shifts from 2000 to 2020 using observational data, revealing a significant increase in seasonal P-E range driven primarily by a global decrease in minimum P-E values, largely attributed to increased evapotranspiration.

Objective

• To quantify global seasonal precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P-E) shifts from 2000 to 2020 and identify the factors contributing to these changes.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global land areas.
• Temporal Scale: 2000 to 2020 (21 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Climate models (used for comparison and potential future projections).
• Data sources: Multiple observational datasets.

Main Results

• A significant increasing trend of 0.15 mm month⁻¹ yr⁻¹ (p < 0.01) was observed in the global seasonal range of P-E.
• This trend was primarily driven by a significant global decrease in minimum P-E values, affecting more than 64% of land areas.
• The decline in minimum P-E was particularly pronounced in both hemispheres.
• Contrasting trends in maximum P-E between the hemispheres masked any clear global trend for maximum P-E.
• Increased evapotranspiration accounted for 76% of the reduction in minimum P-E.
• Climate models generally capture seasonal P-E variations, especially at longer timescales, despite existing spatial disparities.

Contributions

• Provides a quantitative assessment of global seasonal P-E shifts and their drivers over the past two decades using observational data.
• Highlights the critical role of increased evapotranspiration in amplifying the seasonal P-E range, particularly through reduced minimum P-E values.
• Underscores the growing imbalance in global seasonal water availability with climate warming.
• Suggests the utility of suitable climate models for projecting future P-E seasonality to inform adaptation strategies.

Funding

Not explicitly mentioned in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Shi2025Amplified,
  author = {Shi, Wenbo and Zhao, Fubo and Wang, Qichen and Wu, Yiping and Liu, Shuguang and Li, Qiang and Liu, Dengfeng},
  title = {Amplified Global Seasonality in Water Availability over Land in Recent Decades},
  journal = {Journal of Climate},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1175/jcli-d-24-0768.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-24-0768.1}
}