Abstract
The present status of the global hydrological cycle is merely a snapshot in a long continuum of change. The geological record embodies periods when the balance of the cycle was very different, from the Carboniferous swamps to the Triassic deserts. Changes in the distribution of land masses have wrought fundamental shifts in the cycle: continental drift and orogeny as well as the regular shifts in the Earth’s orbit have all contributed to great range of activity in the hydrological cycle that is revealed in the geological record. The sensitivity of the hydrological cycle is illustrated by the fact that a 10% change in global continental precipitation only requires a 2% change in oceanic evaporation. The creation of new deserts requires an even smaller change, 0.2%, in the overall cycle (Kayane, Section I).
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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Jones, J.A.A. (1996). The Impact of Global Warming on Regional Hydrology and Future Research Priorities. In: Jones, J.A.A., Liu, C., Woo, MK., Kung, HT. (eds) Regional Hydrological Response to Climate Change. The GeoJournal Library, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5676-9_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5676-9_25
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