Earth’s water cycle changing due to global warming, may lead to more droughts

 Earth’s water cycle changing due to global warming, may lead to more droughts

As the global climate warms up, the water cycle is being affected at an alarming rate. New study shows there could be more drought in the future.

Evaporation
The new study will be of immense use in planning strategies to combat climate change. (Photo: Nasa)

The water cycle, a natural phenomenon through which plants and land surfaces release moisture into the air, is getting impacted due to climate change. A new study of gravity observations over 17 years indicates the rapid change as global warming heats up the planet.

Dubbed as "evapotranspiration", researchers have found a surge of 10 per cent in the process between 2003 and 2019. Studies on the mass change of water between the oceans and continents revealed that this rate of increase is up to two times higher than previous estimates.

Evapotranspiration is a critical branch of the global water cycle a cycle that creates sustainable conditions for life on land. The study led by Nasa’s Pascolini-Campbell was published in Nature.

How does evapotranspiration affect global water cycle?

The water cycle is a delicate balance of moisture oozing from the surface as water vapours into the air and coming down as rain. The rain is used by plants, animals and humans for survival. However, if the warming of the climate continues, it could lead to accelerated drying of land and vegetation. Weather patterns can also be affected as increased evaporation from land can create droughts in some regions. This could have harsher implications for human survival.

According to researchers, the new study will be of immense use in planning strategies to combat climate change and its impact on the Earth in future.

“Images of melting glaciers and shrinking ice sheets are a palpable way for us to understand the impacts of global warming. But, dramatic changes are also happening to other key components of our planet’s water cycle that aren’t so visible, such as when water evaporates from the land before it can enter the rivers as runoff,” Nasa quoted Pascolini-Campbell as saying.

The study was conducted using data from a pair of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites that operated from 2002 to 2017, and the successor pair, GRACE Follow-On launched in 2018.

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