Climate change is throwing the water cycle out of whack. According to new satellite data, freshwaters are growing faster than salt waters all around the world.
The findings indicate a severe acceleration of the global water cycle, which is a sign that isn't as clearly observed in direct salinity measurements from ocean buoys. It is predicted in climate models.
Climate scientists expect the top layer of the sea to become saltier as global temperatures increase.
This will increase the amount of rain in other parts of the world and make bodies of water less salty.
The pattern can be described as wet-gets-wetter-dry-gets-drier, and it is a real cause for concern. If global warming causes the water cycle to accelerate, it could have profound impacts on modern society, causing water shortages, storms and flooding.
It might have started speeding up snow melt as the rain has been increasing in the polar regions.
This higher amount of water circulating in the atmosphere could also explain the increase in precipitation that is being detected in some polar areas, where it is raining instead of snowing.
There are fewer ocean buoys in the far North and far South of our planet. The first global perspective on the matter is provided by the new satellite analysis.
When the wind is not strong, the surface water warms up, but does not exchange heat with the water below, allowing the surface to become more saline than the lower layers.
The atmosphere and the ocean interact in a stronger way than we thought, with important consequences for the continental and polar areas.
Climate models predict that the water cycle could intensify by up to 7 percent for every degree of warming.
Practically, that means the areas that are wet could grow 7 percent and the areas that are dry could grow 7 percent.
Satellite data backs up those predictions. There are significant differences between buoy and satellite data in tropical and mid-latitude regions.
Changes in the water cycle were clearly shown in the latter measurements.
In the Pacific, we have seen that surface salinity decreases more slowly than the subsurface, and we have observed an increase in sea surface temperature and a decrease in the intensity of winds.
The authors argue that the data from the satellite should be included in future ocean models.
Limit global warming is the only way to prevent heatwaves, droughts, and storms in the future.
There is a certain amount of change in the world. Extreme weather events will be 14 percent stronger than they were at the start of the Industrial Revolution if we can keep global warming to 2 degrees C, according to the most recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change.
That amount of change is concerning. The coming decades would likely bring a lot of catastrophic droughts according to the United Nations. The consequences could be dire if nearly a quarter of the world is experiencing water shortages.
The study was published in a journal.
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