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dc.contributor.authorHuber, David B.
dc.contributor.authorBrunsell, Nathaniel A.
dc.contributor.authorMechem, David B.
dc.date.accessioned2014-12-01T19:04:48Z
dc.date.available2014-12-01T19:04:48Z
dc.date.issued2014-05-05
dc.identifier.citationHuber, D.B.; Mechem, D.B.; Brunsell, N.A. The Effects of Great Plains Irrigation on the Surface Energy Balance, Regional Circulation, and Precipitation. Climate 2014, 2, 103-128. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cli2020103.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1808/15952
dc.descriptionThis is the published version, also available here: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cli2020103.en_US
dc.description.abstractIrrigation provides a needed source of water in regions of low precipitation. Adding water to a region that would otherwise see little natural precipitation alters the partitioning of surface energy fluxes, the evolution of the planetary boundary layer, and the atmospheric transport of water vapor. The effects of irrigation are investigated in this paper through the employment of the Advanced Research (ARW) Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) using a pair of simulations representing the extremes of an irrigated and non-irrigated U.S. Great Plains region. In common with previous studies, irrigation in the Great Plains alters the radiation budget by increasing latent heat flux and cooling the surface temperatures. These effects increase the net radiation at the surface, channeling that energy into additional latent heat flux, which increases convective available potential energy and provides downstream convective systems with additional energy and moisture. Most noteworthy in this study is the substantial influence of irrigation on the structure of the Great Plains Low-level Jet (GPLLJ). The simulation employing irrigation is characterized by a positive 850-mb geopotential height anomaly, a result interpreted by quasi-geostrophic theory to be a response to low-level irrigation-induced cooling. The modulation of the regional-scale height pattern associated with the GPLLJ results in weaker flow southeast of the 850-mb anomaly and stronger flow to the northwest. Increased latent heat flux in the irrigated simulation is greater than the decrease in regional transport, resulting in a net increase in atmospheric moisture and a nearly 50% increase in July precipitation downstream of irrigated regions without any change to the number of precipitation events.en_US
dc.publisherAmerican Geophysical Unionen_US
dc.subjectIrrigation
dc.subjectRegional climate
dc.subjectMesoscale model
dc.subjectWrf
dc.subjectPrecipitation
dc.subjectLow-level jet
dc.subjectLlj
dc.titleThe Effects of Great Plains Irrigation on the Surface Energy Balance, Regional Circulation, and Precipitationen_US
dc.typeArticle
kusw.kuauthorHu, Leiqiu
kusw.kuauthorBrunsell, Nathaniel A.
kusw.kudepartmentGeographyen_US
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/cli2020103
kusw.oaversionScholarly/refereed, publisher version
kusw.oapolicyThis item meets KU Open Access policy criteria.
dc.rights.accessrightsopenAccess


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