Drying in the low-latitude Atlantic Ocean contributed to terrestrial water storage depletion across Eurasia

Zexi Shen; Qiang Zhang; Vijay P Singh; Yadu Pokhrel; Jianping Li; Chong-Yu Xu; Wenhuan Wu

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29544-6

Drying in the low-latitude Atlantic Ocean contributed to terrestrial water storage depletion across Eurasia

Nat Commun. 2022 Apr 6;13(1):1849. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29544-6.

Authors

Zexi Shen^{1

2}, Qiang Zhang^{3

4}, Vijay P Singh^{5

6}, Yadu Pokhrel⁷, Jianping Li^{8

9}, Chong-Yu Xu¹⁰, Wenhuan Wu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China.
² Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China. zhangq68@bnu.edu.cn.
⁴ Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China. zhangq68@bnu.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
⁶ National Water and Energy Institute, UAE University, Al Ain, UAE.
⁷ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
⁸ Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System/Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography/Academy of the Future Ocean, Ocean University of China, 266100, Qingdao, China.
⁹ Laboratory for Ocean Dynamics and Climate, Pilot Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, 266237, Qingdao, China.
¹⁰ Department of Geosciences and Hydrology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

Eurasia, home to ~70% of global population, is characterized by (semi-)arid climate. Water scarcity in the mid-latitude Eurasia (MLE) has been exacerbated by a consistent decline in terrestrial water storage (TWS), attributed primarily to human activities. However, the atmospheric mechanisms behind such TWS decline remain unclear. Here, we investigate teleconnections between drying in low-latitude North Atlantic Ocean (LNATO) and TWS depletions across MLE. We elucidate mechanistic linkages and detecte high correlations between decreased TWS in MLE and the decreased precipitation-minus-evapotranspiration (PME) in LNATO. TWS in MLE declines by ~257% during 2003-2017 due to northeastward propagation of PME deficit following two distinct seasonal landfalling routes during January-May and June-January. The same mechanism reduces TWS during 2031-2050 by ~107% and ~447% under scenarios SSP245 and SSP585, respectively. Our findings highlight the risk of increased future water scarcity across MLE caused by large-scale climatic drivers, compounding the impacts of human activities.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Atlantic Ocean
Desiccation*
Humans
Water*

Substances

Water