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Irrigation Effects on Hydro-Climatic Change: Basin-Wise Water Balance-Constrained Quantification and Cross-Regional Comparison

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The Earth's Hydrological Cycle

Part of the book series: Space Sciences Series of ISSI ((SSSI,volume 46))

Abstract

Hydro-climatic changes driven by human land and water use, including water use for irrigation, may be difficult to distinguish from the effects of global, natural and anthropogenic climate change. This paper quantifies and compares the hydro-climatic change effects of irrigation using a data-driven, basin-wise quantification approach in two different irrigated world regions: the Aral Sea drainage basin in Central Asia and the Indian Mahanadi River Basin draining into the Bay of Bengal. Results show that irrigation-driven changes in evapotranspiration and latent heat fluxes and associated temperature changes at the land surface may be greater in regions with small relative irrigation impacts on water availability in the landscape (here represented by the Mahanadi River Basin) than in regions with severe such impacts (here represented by the Aral region). Different perspectives on the continental part of Earth’s hydrological cycle may thus imply different importance assessments of various drivers and impacts of hydro-climatic change. Regardless of perspective, however, actual basin-wise water balance constraints should be accounted to realistically understand and accurately quantify continental water change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Shilpa M. Asokan & Georgia Destouni

Authors
  1. Shilpa M. Asokan
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  2. Georgia Destouni
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shilpa M. Asokan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Lennart Bengtsson , R.-M. Bonnet  & M. Calisto ,  & 

  2. Stockholm University, Svante Arrhenius väg 8, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden

    G. Destouni

  3. University of Reading, Earley Gate 3, RG6 6AL, Reading, United Kingdom

    R. Gurney

  4. Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Thormøhlens gate 47, 5006, Bergen, Norway

    J. Johannessen

  5. Center for the Study of the Biosphere from Space, Avenue Edouard Belin 18, 31401, Toulouse, France

    Y. Kerr

  6. Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Instituttveien 18, 2027, Kjeller, Norway

    W.A. Lahoz

  7. ESA-ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei, 00044, Frascati, Italy

    M. Rast

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Asokan, S.M., Destouni, G. (2013). Irrigation Effects on Hydro-Climatic Change: Basin-Wise Water Balance-Constrained Quantification and Cross-Regional Comparison. In: Bengtsson, L., et al. The Earth's Hydrological Cycle. Space Sciences Series of ISSI, vol 46. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8789-5_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8789-5_18

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  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-8788-8

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