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Detailed Reference Information |
Pan, Z., Arritt, R.W., Takle, E.S., Gutowski, W.J., Anderson, C.J. and Segal, M. (2004). Altered hydrologic feedback in a warming climate introduces a “warming hole”. Geophysical Research Letters 31: doi: 10.1029/2004GL020528. issn: 0094-8276. |
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In the last 25 years of the 20th century most major land regions experienced a summer warming trend, but the central U.S. cooled by 0.2--0.8 K. In contrast most climate projections using GCMs show warming for all continental interiors including North America. We examined this discrepancy by using a regional climate model and found a circulation-precipitation coupling under enhanced greenhouse gas concentrations that occurs on scales too small for current GCMs to resolve well. Results show a local minimum of warming in the central U.S. (a warming hole) associated with changes in low-level circulations that lead to replenishment of seasonally depleted soil moisture, thereby increasing late-summer evapotranspiration and suppressing daytime maximum temperatures. These regional-scale feedback processes may partly explain the observed late 20th century temperature trend in the central U.S. and potentially could reduce the magnitude of future greenhouse warming in the region. |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Global Change, Climate dynamics, Global Change, Instruments and techniques, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Boundary layer processes, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Lightning, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Land/atmosphere interactions |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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