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The effects of climate change on the water cycle have important negative effects on the availability of freshwater resources, as well as other water reservoirs such as oceans, ice sheets, the atmosphere and soil moisture. The water cycle is essential to life on Earth and plays a large role in the global climate system and ocean circulation.
Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres (121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year: 398,000 cubic kilometres (95,000 cu mi) over oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres (26,000 cu mi) over land. [4]
Several characteristics of the water cycle have the potential to cause sudden (abrupt) changes of the water cycle. [ 7 ] : 1148 The definition for "abrupt change" is: a regional to global scale change in the climate system that happens more quickly than it has in the past, indicating that the climate response is not linear.
Richard Allan, a climate science professor at Reading University, England, said the report “paints a grim picture of human-caused disruption to the global water cycle, the most precious natural ...
Warming may also cause changes in the precipitation pattern globally, including wetter conditions at high latitudes and in some wet tropical areas. [1] Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle , and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet.
In doing so, the water goes through different forms: liquid, solid and vapor. The ocean plays a key role in the water cycle as it is the source of 86% of global evaporation. [2] The water cycle involves the exchange of energy, which leads to temperature changes. When water evaporates, it takes up energy from its surroundings and cools the ...
This causes surface temperatures to rise. [5] The hydrological cycle is the movement of water through the climate system. Not only does the hydrological cycle determine patterns of precipitation, it also has an influence on the movement of energy throughout the climate system. [6]
The cycle swings between warmer and cooler seawater in a region along the equator in the tropical Pacific. La Niña is marked by cooler-than-average ocean water in the region.