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Novel Metric for Assessing Human-Induced Shifts in Global Water Cycles

Explore the proposed heat unit metric to quantify the climatic impact of human-induced alterations to global and regional water cycles. Learn about the changes in heat energy storage and redistribution affecting the Earth's environmental system.

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Novel Metric for Assessing Human-Induced Shifts in Global Water Cycles

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  1. A Proposed New Metric For Quantifying The Climatic Effects Of Human-Caused Alterations To The Global and Regional Water Cycles Roger A. Pielke Sr., Senior Research Scientist University of Colorado, Boulder Professor Emeritus, Colorado State University CU Hydrology And Water Resources Seminar, Boulder, CO, April 23, 2008

  2. The most appropriate metric to assess ‘global warming or cooling’ are the changes in heat unit (Joules) stores in accessible components of the earth’s environmental system. • Humans can produce a net change in the storage and/or a redistribution of where the heat energy is stored. • Heat units of Joules can be expressed in terms of a heating rate (1.6 X 1023 Joules per decade corresponds to an average earth system heating rate of 1.0 Watts m-2).

  3. From: National Research Council, 2005: Radiative Forcing of Climate Change: Expanding the Concept and Addressing Uncertainties, Committee on Radiative Forcing Effects on Climate, Climate Research Committee, 224 pp.http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11175.html

  4. Change In Regional Water Cycle

  5. U.S. Geological Survey land-cover classes for pre-1900’s natural conditions (left) and 1993 land-use patterns (right). From Marshall, C.H. Jr., R.A. Pielke Sr., L.T. Steyaert, and D.A. Willard, 2004: The impact of anthropogenic land-cover change on the Florida peninsula sea breezes and warm season sensible weather. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 28-52.http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-272.pdf

  6. From Marshall, C.H. Jr., R.A. Pielke Sr., L.T. Steyaert, and D.A. Willard, 2004: The impact of anthropogenic land-cover change on the Florida peninsula sea breezes and warm season sensible weather. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 28 52. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-272.pdf

  7. From Marshall, C.H. Jr., R.A. Pielke Sr., L.T. Steyaert, and D.A. Willard, 2004: The impact of anthropogenic land-cover change on the Florida peninsula sea breezes and warm season sensible weather. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 28-52.http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-272.pdf

  8. Associated convective rainfall (mm) from the model simulations of July-August 1973 with pre-1900s land cover (top), 1993 land use (middle), and the difference field for the two (bottom; 1993 minus pre-1900s case). From Marshall, C.H. Jr., R.A. Pielke Sr., L.T. Steyaert, and D.A. Willard, 2004: The impact of anthropogenic land-cover change on the Florida peninsula sea breezes and warm season sensible weather. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 28-52. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-272.pdf

  9. Same as previous figure except for July and August, 1989. From Marshall, C.H. Jr., R.A. Pielke Sr., L.T. Steyaert, and D.A. Willard, 2004: The impact of anthropogenic land-cover change on the Florida peninsula sea breezes and warm season sensible weather. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 28-52.http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-272.pdf

  10. Two-month average of the daily maximum shelter-level temperature (C) from the model simulations of Jul-Aug 1989 with (top) natural land cover, (middle) current land cover.From Marshall, C.H. Jr., R.A. Pielke Sr., L.T. Steyaert, and D.A. Willard, 2004: The impact of anthropogenic land-cover change on the Florida peninsula sea breezes and warm season sensible weather. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 28-52.http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-272.pdf

  11. Same as previous figure except for daily minimum temperature. From Marshall, C.H. Jr., R.A. Pielke Sr., L.T. Steyaert, and D.A. Willard, 2004: The impact of anthropogenic land-cover change on the Florida peninsula sea breezes and warm season sensible weather. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 28-52.http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-272.pdf

  12. Gradient of Radiative Forcing

  13. The Normalized Gradient of Radiative Forcing (NGoRF) is the fraction of the presentEarth’s heterogeneous insolation attributed to human activityon different horizontal scales

  14. From: Matsui, T., and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2006: Measurement-based estimation of the spatial gradient of aerosol radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Letts., 33, L11813, doi:10.1029/2006GL025974. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-312.pdf

  15. Figure 1. Shortwave aerosol direct radiative forcing (ADRF) for top-of atmosphere (TOA), surface, and atmosphere. From: Matsui, T., and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2006: Measurement-based estimation of the spatial gradient of aerosol radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Letts., 33, L11813, doi:10.1029/2006GL025974. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-312.pdf

  16. Figure 2. Vertical profile of atmospheric heating rate (K day-1) due to shortwave ADRF. Vertical coordinate is pressure level (mb). From: Matsui, T., and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2006: Measurement-based estimation of the spatial gradient of aerosol radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Letts., 33, L11813, doi:10.1029/2006GL025974. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-312.pdf

  17. Figure 3. Shortwave aerosol indirect radiative forcing (AIRF) for top-of atmosphere (TOA), surface, and atmosphere. From: Matsui, T., and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2006: Measurement-based estimation of the spatial gradient of aerosol radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Letts., 33, L11813, doi:10.1029/2006GL025974.http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-312.pdf

  18. Figure 4. Comparison of Mean TOA radiative forcing between infrared GRF, shortwave ADRF, and shortwave AIRF. From: Matsui, T., and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2006: Measurement-based estimation of the spatial gradient of aerosol radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Letts., 33, L11813, doi:10.1029/2006GL025974. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-312.pdf

  19. Figure 5. Comparison of the meridional and the zonal component of NGoRF between infrared GRF, shortwave ADRF, and shortwave AIRF for atmosphere and surface. From: Matsui, T., and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2006: Measurement-based estimation of the spatial gradient of aerosol radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Letts., 33, L11813, doi:10.1029/2006GL025974. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-312.pdf

  20. The Actual Global Heat Change in the Last 50 Years is Relatively Small Estimate of actual climate system heat change from the early 1950s-1995 is 0.3 Watts per meter squared (Pielke 2003)based on ocean heat storage changes (Levitus et al. 2000). Figure from Houghton et al. Eds., 2001: Summary for Policymakers: http://www.ipcc.ch

  21. 2007 IPCC SPM View

  22. FIGURE SPM-2. Global-average radiative forcing (RF) estimates and ranges in 2005 for anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and other important agents and mechanisms, together with the typical geographical extent (spatial scale) of the forcing and the assessed level of scientific understanding (LOSU). The net anthropogenic radiative forcing and its range are also shown. These require summing asymmetric uncertainty estimates from the component terms, and cannot be obtained by simple addition. Additional forcing factors not included here are considered to have a very low LOSU. Volcanic aerosols contribute an additional natural forcing but are not included in this figure due to their episodic nature. Range for linear contrails does not include other possible effects of aviation on cloudiness.

  23. Effect of the Spatial Redistribution of Surface Heating (El Niño) • El Niño has a major effect on weather thousands of kilometers from the tropical Pacific Ocean (Shabbar et al. 1997). • The presence of warm SSTs permit thunderstorms to occur which otherwise would not have occurred. • These thunderstorms export vast amounts of heat, moisture, and kinetic energy to the middle and higher latitudes, which alter the ridge and trough patterns associated with the polar jet stream (Hou 1998). • El Niños have such a major effect on weather due to their large magnitude, long persistence, and spatial coherence (Wu and Newell 1998). • Tropical thunderstorms are referred to as “hot towers” and are the conduit to higher latitudes as part of the Hadley circulations (Riehl and Malkus 1958; Riehl and Simpson 1979). • Most thunderstorms occur over tropical and midlatitude land masses and in the warm season (Lyons 1999; Rosenfeld 2000). Therefore, the Earth’s climate system must also be sensitive to land-use change in those regions where thunderstorms occur.

  24. El Niño-Natural El Niño Teleconnection Effect Prepared by T.N. Chase, CU, Boulder, CO.

  25. El Niño-Control Prepared by T.N. Chase, CU, Boulder, CO

  26. El Niño-Control Prepared by T.N. Chase, CU, Boulder, CO

  27. Effect of the Spatial Redistribution of Surface Heating (Land-Use Change) From: Pielke Sr., R.A., G. Marland, R.A. Betts, T.N. Chase, J.L. Eastman, J.O. Niles, D. Niyogi, and S. Running, 2002: The influence of land-use change and landscape dynamics on the climate system: Relevance to climate change policy beyond the radiative effect of greenhouse gases. Phil. Trans. A. Special Theme Issue, 360, 1705-1719.

  28. From: Pielke Sr., R.A., G. Marland, R.A. Betts, T.N. Chase, J.L. Eastman, J.O. Niles, D. Niyogi, and S. Running, 2002: The influence of land-use change and landscape dynamics on the climate system: Relevance to climate change policy beyond the radiative effect of greenhouse gases. Phil. Trans. A. Special Theme Issue, 360, 1705-1719.

  29. From: Pielke Sr., R.A., G. Marland, R.A. Betts, T.N. Chase, J.L. Eastman, J.O. Niles, D. Niyogi, and S. Running, 2002: The influence of land-use change and landscape dynamics on the climate system: Relevance to climate change policy beyond the radiative effect of greenhouse gases. Phil. Trans. A. Special Theme Issue, 360, 1705-1719.

  30. From: Pielke Sr., R.A., G. Marland, R.A. Betts, T.N. Chase, J.L. Eastman, J.O. Niles, D. Niyogi, and S. Running, 2002: The influence of land-use change and landscape dynamics on the climate system: Relevance to climate change policy beyond the radiative effect of greenhouse gases. Phil. Trans. A. Special Theme Issue, 360, 1705-1719.

  31. From: Pielke Sr., R.A., G. Marland, R.A. Betts, T.N. Chase, J.L. Eastman, J.O. Niles, D. Niyogi, and S. Running, 2002: The influence of land-use change and landscape dynamics on the climate system: Relevance to climate change policy beyond the radiative effect of greenhouse gases. Phil. Trans. A. Special Theme Issue, 360, 1705-1719.

  32. Redistribution of Heat Due to the Human Disturbance of the Earth’s Climate System Global redistribution of heat is on the same order as an El Niño

  33. Spatial Redistribution of Heat is also Associated with a Spatial Redistribution of Water RN = QG + H + L(E+T) P = E + T + RO + I New Metric: Changes in δP; δT; δRO; δI From Pielke Sr., R.A., 2001: Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall. Rev. Geophys., 39,151-177. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-231.pdf

  34. Alteration in Surface Water Fluxes Associated With Land-Use Change Adapted from P. Kabat (personal communication, 1999). From Pielke Sr., R.A., 2001: Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall. Rev. Geophys., 39,151-177. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-231.pdf

  35. Alteration of Thermodynamic Profile Associated with Land-Use Change From Pielke Sr., R.A., 2001: Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall. Rev. Geophys., 39,151-177. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-231.pdf

  36. Effect of Land-Use Change on Deep Cumulonimbus Convection From Pielke Sr., R.A., 2001: Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall. Rev. Geophys., 39,151-177. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-231.pdf

  37. Mean July Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) (J kg-1) from 12 Z Radiosonde Observations From U. Nair and R. Welch (personal communication, 2000). Pielke Sr., R.A., 2001: Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall. Rev. Geophys., 39,151-177. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-231.pdf

  38. Changes in Mean July CAPE Due to a 1°C Increase in Surface Layer Dewpoint Temperature Alterations in surface moisture fluxes alter CAPE From U. Nair and R. Welch (personal communication, 2000). Pielke Sr., R.A., 2001: Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall. Rev. Geophys., 39,151-177. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-231.pdf

  39. Smaller-Scale Spatial Variations in Landscape Change Also Affect the Water Cycle From Avissar and Liu (1996). Pielke Sr., R.A., 2001: Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall. Rev. Geophys., 39,151-177. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-231.pdf

  40. From Avissar and Liu (1996). Pielke Sr., R.A., 2001: Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall. Rev. Geophys., 39,151-177. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/R-231.pdf

  41. Global Water Cycle Metric • Absolute Value of Globally-Averaged Change is 1.2 mm/day. Prepared by T.N. Chase, CU, Boulder, CO.

  42. Global Water Cycle Metric Absolute Value of Globally-Averaged Change is 0.6 mm/day Prepared by T.N. Chase, CU, Boulder, CO.

  43. SUMMARY • Landscape change and vegetation dynamics both result in a significant global redistribution of heat and water within the global climate system. • This redistribution of heat and water has already had an effect on the global climate system this is at least as large as the IPCC and National Assessment have attributed to the radiative effect of a doubling of carbon dioxide.

  44. A Focus on Vulnerability

  45. Schematic of the relation of water resource vulnerability to the spectrum of the environmental forcings and feedbacks (adapted from [3]). The arrows denote nonlinear interactions between and within natural and human forcings. From: Pielke, R.A. Sr., 2004: Discussion Forum: A broader perspective on climate change is needed. IGBP Newsletter, 59, 16-19. http://climatesci.colorado.edu/publications/pdf/NR-139.pdf

  46. March 1 snowpack percent of average for the state of Colorado for 1968-2008.ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/CO/Snow/snow/watershed/monthly/marstatetime.gif

  47. Resource Specific Impact Level with Respect to Water Resources - June 2004

  48. QuestionIf you were given 100 million dollars to spend on environmental benefits in Colorado, where would you use that money?   1. subsidies for alternative energy  2. purchasing wilderness areas (e.g., through the Nature Conservancy)  3. building/enlarging water impoundments  4. building pipelines to transport water over large distances   5. purchasing open spaces in growing urban areas  6. funding additional mass transit • Where Should This Money Come From?  1. carbon usage tax  2. mileage driven tax  3. lottery  4. tax on large private vehicles 5. state income tax increase  6. property tax increase

  49. Roger A. Pielke Sr. Weblog http://climatesci.org Roger A. Pielke Sr. Website http://cires.colorado.edu/science/groups/pielke

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