The Water Cycle and Climate Change
Amongst the highest priorities in Earth science and environmental
policy issues confronting society are the potential changes in the
Earth's water cycle due to climate change. The science community now
generally agrees that the Earth's climate will undergo changes in
response to natural variability, including solar variability, and to
increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols. Furthermore,
agreement is widespread that these changes may profoundly affect
atmospheric water vapor concentrations, clouds, and precipitation
patterns. For example, a warmer climate, directly leading to increased
evaporation, may well accelerate the hydrologic cycle, resulting in an
increase in the amount of moisture circulating through the atmosphere.
Many uncertainties remain, however, as illustrated by the inconsistent
results given by current climate models regarding the future
distribution of precipitation.
The Persian
Gulf from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite. Arid regions
like this may face increasingly severe water shortages
as global climate changes. (Image by Brian Montgomery, Earth Observatory,
and Mark Gray, MODIS Atmosphere Group, NASA GSFC.)
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 The Water Cycle
Introduction
A Multi-Phased Journey
The Water Cycle and Climate Change
The Aqua Mission and the Water Cycle
The Aqua Spacecraft
References
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