WarmingHole.html

 

Pan, Z., R.W. Arritt, E.S. Takle, W.J. Gutowski, C.J. Anderson and M. Segal, 2003: Altered hydrologic feedback in a warming climate introduces a "warming hole". Science (submitted).

The climate pattern of summertime warming over the continental United States in recent decades contains a localized region of weak cooling in the central United States. Using a regional model with finer resolution than current global models to simulate present and future scenario climates with enhanced greenhouse-gas concentrations, we find that this observed "warming hole" is associated with a change in the hydrological cycle. Enhanced regional precipitation supported by changes in the frequency of low-level jet occurrence leads to replenishment of seasonally depleted soil moisture, increasing late-summer evapotranspiration and suppressing daytime maximum temperatures.