Reviewing the Impact of Land Use and Land‐Use Change on Moisture Recycling and Precipitation Patterns

Abstract

A significant part of the global terrestrial freshwater is stored in the soil. Green water, or plant-available soil moisture, enables vegetation growth and determines vegetation form and functioning (Eagleson, 2002). In turn, vegetation cover governs many green water processes, such as infiltration capacity, evaporation, and percolation (Figure 1). Vegetation changes can affect green water dynamics that subsequently affect moisture recycling patterns by altering the magnitude and timing of evaporation and transpiration (Wang-Erlandsson et al., 2014). Terrestrial moisture recycling (TMR) is referred to as the "process of terrestrial evaporation entering the atmosphere, traveling with the prevailing winds, and eventually falling out as rain" (Keys et al., 2017: 15). Globally, 57% of the rainfall over land returns to the atmosphere via evaporation or transpiration (Eagleson, 2003;Tuinenburg et al., 2020), of which 70% rains back again over land (Tuinenburg et al., 2020). Subsequently, terrestrial evaporation and transpiration comprise 40% of the total rainfall falling over land globally (Van Der Ent et al., 2010). TMR thus represents a significant hydrological pathway for the global distribution of water.Anthropogenic land-use change (LUC) following increasing demand for food, fuel, fiber, and timber (Schyns et al., 2019) might affect TMR patterns. Some studies suggest that deforestation and vegetation reduction can disturb TMR and affect local to regional rainfall patterns (

Vegetation impact on atmospheric moisture transport under increasing land-ocean temperature contrasts

“…Here we highlighted an additional role: to buffer the land-ocean temperature contrasts. Recognizing these physically distinct effects of temperature on air circulation can help us better understand and project the diverse impacts of land cover change on the local and regional water cycle ( Lawrence and Vandecar, 2015 ; te Wierik et al, 2021 ; Caballero et al, 2022 ). The effects of the vegetation cover change on the regional water cycle can be exacerbated by atmospheric teleconnections (e.g., the Rodwell-Hoskins mechanism, Rodwell and Hoskins, 1996 ).…”

Mimicking nature to reduce agricultural impact on water cycles: A set of mimetrics

“…Blue water governance seeks to reduce conflicts between evaporative use in agriculture and forestry or industrial cooling, flow-dependent hydropower generation, and industrial and domestic use that affect water quality rather than quantity. The need to extend current blue water governance to green and atmospheric water is becoming more widely articulated (Ellison et al, 2017(Ellison et al, , 2019Creed and van Noordwijk, 2018;te Wierik et al, 2020te Wierik et al, , 2021. Acknowledging that many aspects beyond hydrology influence human decisions on watershed management (van Noordwijk, 2019), the proposed metrics relate to a set of 'principles' and 'criteria' via the list of hydrological watershed functions.…”

Not Just Carbon: Capturing All the Benefits of Forests for Stabilizing the Climate from Local to Global Scales

“…Meeting this objective requires strengthening the understanding and modeling of TMR, especially in the Congo Basin and nontropical forest areas. The literature also suggests improving monitoring of forest-water outcomes, spatial planning, ecosystem service valuation, and impact assessments as key tools for informing regulatory instruments and governance institutions (Ellison et al 2018;Te Wierik et al 2021). Monitoring of land-use change and resultant changes in local and regional water quantity is needed to calibrate models and improve our understanding of forest-water-atmosphere connections.…”