Sub-diurnal asymmetric warming has amplified atmospheric dryness since the 1980s.
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40925890.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-63672-z and PMC identifier 12420828.
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Abstract
Rising atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD)-a measure of atmospheric dryness, defined as the difference between saturated vapor pressure (SVP) and actual vapor pressure (AVP)-has been linked to increasing daily mean near-surface air temperatures since the 1980s. However, it remains unclear whether the faster increases in daily maximum temperature (T<sub>max</sub>) relative to daily minimum temperature (T<sub>min</sub>) have contributed to rising VPD. Here, we show that the faster rise in T<sub>max</sub> compared with T<sub>min</sub> over land has intensified VPD from 1980 to 2023. This sub-diurnal asymmetric warming has driven a larger SVP increase than would occur under uniform temperature rise, while AVP is more strongly influenced by T<sub>min</sub>. Using reanalysis data, we estimate that asymmetric warming has contributed an additional ~18% to the increase in global land VPD. Sub-daily station observations corroborate this pattern, with asymmetric warming accounting for ~30% of VPD intensification across all stations. Our findings indicate that sub-diurnal asymmetric warming has substantially amplified global warming's effect on atmospheric dryness over the past four decades, with significant implications for terrestrial water availability and carbon cycling.