Observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas
Abstract Irrigation plays a vital role in addressing the growing food demand of an increasing global population. It represents one of the most critical and direct human interventions on the coupled water and energy cycles. As irrigated farmland continues to expand, understanding the climate impact o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58729-y |
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| author | P. Greve A. U. Schmitt D. G. Miralles S. McDermid K. L. Findell A. García-García J. Peng |
| author_facet | P. Greve A. U. Schmitt D. G. Miralles S. McDermid K. L. Findell A. García-García J. Peng |
| author_sort | P. Greve |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Irrigation plays a vital role in addressing the growing food demand of an increasing global population. It represents one of the most critical and direct human interventions on the coupled water and energy cycles. As irrigated farmland continues to expand, understanding the climate impact of extensive irrigation becomes increasingly important. Yet, the effect on rainfall patterns near irrigated areas remains unclear. Here, using two global, high-resolution, sub-daily precipitation datasets, we show that afternoon rain events occur more often 10 km to 50 km downwind and less often upwind of extensively irrigated land. However, we also find that the total amount of heavy afternoon rain downwind of irrigated areas is lower than upwind. Our results establish large-scale observational evidence of the local precipitation dynamics surrounding irrigated areas; these insights will help constrain the representation of these processes in next-generation climate and weather forecasting models and provide valuable insights for regional water management. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3a18dcbdf84746f8a4c1f6ecc99ec79f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-3a18dcbdf84746f8a4c1f6ecc99ec79f2025-08-20T03:10:06ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-04-0116111110.1038/s41467-025-58729-yObservational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areasP. Greve0A. U. Schmitt1D. G. Miralles2S. McDermid3K. L. Findell4A. García-García5J. Peng6Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS), Helmholtz-Zentrum HereonClimate Service Center Germany (GERICS), Helmholtz-Zentrum HereonHydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H–CEL), Ghent UniversityDepartment of Environmental Studies, New York UniversityGeophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)Department of Remote Sensing, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research–UFZDepartment of Remote Sensing, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research–UFZAbstract Irrigation plays a vital role in addressing the growing food demand of an increasing global population. It represents one of the most critical and direct human interventions on the coupled water and energy cycles. As irrigated farmland continues to expand, understanding the climate impact of extensive irrigation becomes increasingly important. Yet, the effect on rainfall patterns near irrigated areas remains unclear. Here, using two global, high-resolution, sub-daily precipitation datasets, we show that afternoon rain events occur more often 10 km to 50 km downwind and less often upwind of extensively irrigated land. However, we also find that the total amount of heavy afternoon rain downwind of irrigated areas is lower than upwind. Our results establish large-scale observational evidence of the local precipitation dynamics surrounding irrigated areas; these insights will help constrain the representation of these processes in next-generation climate and weather forecasting models and provide valuable insights for regional water management.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58729-y |
| spellingShingle | P. Greve A. U. Schmitt D. G. Miralles S. McDermid K. L. Findell A. García-García J. Peng Observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas Nature Communications |
| title | Observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas |
| title_full | Observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas |
| title_fullStr | Observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas |
| title_short | Observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas |
| title_sort | observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58729-y |
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