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Science 15 November 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5597, pp. 1345 - 1346
DOI: 10.1126/science.1078972
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Perspectives

CLIMATE CHANGE:
Is the Hydrological Cycle Accelerating?

Atsumu Ohmura* and Martin Wild

As global climate warms, most atmospheric scientists believe that evaporation will increase and as a result, the hydrological cycle will accelerate. But results from a network of water-filled pans used to monitor evaporation suggest that the opposite may be happening. In this Perspective, Ohmura and Wild review the evidence for and against an accelerated hydrological cycle. They highlight a new explanation for the pan evaporation data by Roderick and Farquhar, but warns that the issue is far from resolved.

The authors are at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland.

*Affiliated with the Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. E-mail: ohmura{at}geo.umnw.ethz.ch

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Human modification of global water vapor flows from the land surface.
L. J. Gordon, W. Steffen, B. F. Jonsson, C. Folke, M. Falkenmark, and A. Johannessen (2005)
PNAS 102, 7612-7617
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From Dimming to Brightening: Decadal Changes in Solar Radiation at Earth's Surface.
M. Wild, H. Gilgen, A. Roesch, A. Ohmura, C. N. Long, E. G. Dutton, B. Forgan, A. Kallis, V. Russak, and A. Tsvetkov (2005)
Science 308, 847-850
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