Global Water Cycle
CSREES-funded research on the global water
cycle will focus on how natural and human
activities influence the distribution and
quality of water within the Earth system,
whether changes are predictable, and the
effects on human systems of variability and
change in the water cycle. Specific foci
include:
- identifying trends in the intensity of
the water cycle and determining the causes
of these changes (including feedback effects
of clouds on the global water and energy
budgets as well as the global climate system);
- predicting precipitation and evaporation
on time scales of months to years and longer;
- modeling physical/biological and socioeconomic
processes to facilitate efficient water
resources management;
- developing a capability to predict where
water management crisis will emerge due
to a drought or extended flood conditions;
- the effects of large scale changes in
land-use and climate on the capacity of
societies to provide adequate supplies
of clean water, and;
- how natural processes and human activities
influence the distribution and quality
of water within the regional and national
systems.
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