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www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/5/2111/2008/
doi:10.5194/hessd-5-2111-2008
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Does evaporation paradox exist in China?
State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Abstract. One expected consequence of global warming is the increase in evaporation. However, lots of observations show that the rate of evaporation from open pans of water has been steadily decreasing all over the world in the past 50 years. The contrast between expectation and observation is called the evaporation paradox. Based on data from 317 weather stations in China from 1956 to 2005, the trends of pan evaporation and air temperature were obtained and evaporation paradox was analyzed. The following conclusions were made: (1) From 1956 to 2005, pan evaporation paradox exists in China as a whole with decreasing in pan evaporation and the warming though it does not exist in Northeast and Southeast; (2) From 1956 to 1985, pan evaporation paradox exists narrowly as a whole with unobvious warming though it does not exist in Northeast (3) From 1986 to 2005, in the past 50 years, the precipitation and the pan evaporation exhibit contrary trend in most areas. Furthermore, pan evaporation paradox does not exist as a whole with increasing in pan evaporation though it exists in South. Furthermore, the trend of other weather factors including sunlight time, windspeed, humidity and vapor pressure deficit and their relation with pan evaporation are discussed. It can be concluded that pan evaporation decreasing is caused by the decreasing in radiation and wind speed before 1985 and pan evaporation increasing is caused by the deceasing in vapor pressure deficit due to strong warming after 1986.
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Citation: Cong, Z. T. and Yang, D. W.: Does evaporation paradox exist in China?, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 5, 2111-2131, doi:10.5194/hessd-5-2111-2008, 2008. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
