Regions of strong coupling between soil moisture and precipitation.

Koster, Randal D; Dirmeyer, Paul A; Guo, Zhichang; Bonan, Gordon; Chan, Edmond; Cox, Peter; Gordon, C T; Kanae, Shinjiro et al. · Science · 2004

other · Level V

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Abstract

Previous estimates of land-atmosphere interaction (the impact of soil moisture on precipitation) have been limited by a lack of observational data and by the model dependence of computational estimates. To counter the second limitation, a dozen climate-modeling groups have recently performed the same highly controlled numerical experiment as part of a coordinated comparison project. This allows a multimodel estimation of the regions on Earth where precipitation is affected by soil moisture anomalies during Northern Hemisphere summer. Potential benefits of this estimation may include improved seasonal rainfall forecasts.