Weakened Increase in Global Near‐Surface Water Vapor Pressure During the Last 20 Years

Abstract It is well known that global warming increases the atmospheric water vapor content, which results in substantial changes in the hydrological cycle. Using five observational data sets, the results show that an increasing trend of near‐surface water vapor pressure (AVP) over land and ocean wa...

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Main Authors: Wenfang Xu, Xiaosheng Xia, Shilong Piao, Donghai Wu, Weibiao Li, Song Yang, Wenping Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-01-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107909
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author Wenfang Xu
Xiaosheng Xia
Shilong Piao
Donghai Wu
Weibiao Li
Song Yang
Wenping Yuan
author_facet Wenfang Xu
Xiaosheng Xia
Shilong Piao
Donghai Wu
Weibiao Li
Song Yang
Wenping Yuan
author_sort Wenfang Xu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract It is well known that global warming increases the atmospheric water vapor content, which results in substantial changes in the hydrological cycle. Using five observational data sets, the results show that an increasing trend of near‐surface water vapor pressure (AVP) over land and ocean was significant from 1975 to 1998, while such an increasing trend in AVP subsequently weakened from 1999 to 2019. This phenomenon is associated with decreased oceanic evaporation and land surface evapotranspiration in response to recent climate variations. One consequence of such a phenomenon is a large increase in near‐surface vapor pressure deficit (VPD), which in turn increases atmospheric demand for water vapor and thus aridity and drought over land. This result emphasizes the importance of water vapor change under global warming.
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institution DOAJ
issn 0094-8276
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language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Wiley
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-00b2fdf3474449a8b6f065df0de8889e2025-08-20T03:11:03ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-01-01512n/an/a10.1029/2023GL107909Weakened Increase in Global Near‐Surface Water Vapor Pressure During the Last 20 YearsWenfang Xu0Xiaosheng Xia1Shilong Piao2Donghai Wu3Weibiao Li4Song Yang5Wenping Yuan6State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou ChinaSchool of Atmospheric Sciences Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) Sun Yat‐sen University Zhuhai ChinaInstitute of Carbon Neutrality, Sino‐French Institute for Earth System Science College of Urban and Environmental Sciences Peking University Beijing ChinaState Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou ChinaSchool of Atmospheric Sciences Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) Sun Yat‐sen University Zhuhai ChinaSchool of Atmospheric Sciences Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) Sun Yat‐sen University Zhuhai ChinaInstitute of Carbon Neutrality, Sino‐French Institute for Earth System Science College of Urban and Environmental Sciences Peking University Beijing ChinaAbstract It is well known that global warming increases the atmospheric water vapor content, which results in substantial changes in the hydrological cycle. Using five observational data sets, the results show that an increasing trend of near‐surface water vapor pressure (AVP) over land and ocean was significant from 1975 to 1998, while such an increasing trend in AVP subsequently weakened from 1999 to 2019. This phenomenon is associated with decreased oceanic evaporation and land surface evapotranspiration in response to recent climate variations. One consequence of such a phenomenon is a large increase in near‐surface vapor pressure deficit (VPD), which in turn increases atmospheric demand for water vapor and thus aridity and drought over land. This result emphasizes the importance of water vapor change under global warming.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107909water vaporclimate changevapor pressure deficitland surface evapotranspirationocean evaporation
spellingShingle Wenfang Xu
Xiaosheng Xia
Shilong Piao
Donghai Wu
Weibiao Li
Song Yang
Wenping Yuan
Weakened Increase in Global Near‐Surface Water Vapor Pressure During the Last 20 Years
Geophysical Research Letters
water vapor
climate change
vapor pressure deficit
land surface evapotranspiration
ocean evaporation
title Weakened Increase in Global Near‐Surface Water Vapor Pressure During the Last 20 Years
title_full Weakened Increase in Global Near‐Surface Water Vapor Pressure During the Last 20 Years
title_fullStr Weakened Increase in Global Near‐Surface Water Vapor Pressure During the Last 20 Years
title_full_unstemmed Weakened Increase in Global Near‐Surface Water Vapor Pressure During the Last 20 Years
title_short Weakened Increase in Global Near‐Surface Water Vapor Pressure During the Last 20 Years
title_sort weakened increase in global near surface water vapor pressure during the last 20 years
topic water vapor
climate change
vapor pressure deficit
land surface evapotranspiration
ocean evaporation
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107909
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AT shilongpiao weakenedincreaseinglobalnearsurfacewatervaporpressureduringthelast20years
AT donghaiwu weakenedincreaseinglobalnearsurfacewatervaporpressureduringthelast20years
AT weibiaoli weakenedincreaseinglobalnearsurfacewatervaporpressureduringthelast20years
AT songyang weakenedincreaseinglobalnearsurfacewatervaporpressureduringthelast20years
AT wenpingyuan weakenedincreaseinglobalnearsurfacewatervaporpressureduringthelast20years