Michael L. Roderick, Graham D. Farquhar

Science

Published date November 15, 2002

The Cause of Decreased Pan Evaporation over the Past 50 Years

  • States changes in the global water cycle can cause major environmental and socioeconomic impacts
  • States that as the average global temperature increases, it is generally expected that the air will become drier and that evaporation from terrestrial water bodies will increase
  • States that, paradoxically, terrestrial observations over the past 50 years show the reverse
  • Shows that the decrease in evaporation is consistent with what one would expect from the observed large and widespread decreases in sunlight resulting from increasing cloud coverage and aerosol concentration