Climate change has increased global evaporative demand except in South Asia

2025/11/29 by Saeed Karimzadeh, Arman Ahmadi, Dennis Baldocchi +1 · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Energy · #Climate variability and models #Water-Energy-Food Nexus Studies #Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s43247-025-02959-x

openalex publication_date 2025/11/29 · openalex created_date 2025/12/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Abstract Climate change alters how strongly the atmosphere draws water from the land, yet a consistent global assessment of this evaporative demand has been lacking. Here, we analyze 45 years of climate data and global models to quantify trends in the key drivers—air temperature, humidity, radiation, wind speed, and cloud cover—that determine the atmosphere’s drying power. We find that evaporative demand has increased worldwide, indicating a stronger atmospheric thirst, except in South Asia, where it has declined. There, widespread irrigation has increased soil and air moisture, enhanced cloud formation, and reduced sunlight reaching the surface, counteracting the global signal. These contrasting trends reveal how human water use can locally reshape the climate’s influence on the water cycle.

Citations

• A NEW MEASURE OF RANK CORRELATION
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Discussions

• Climate change has increased global evaporative demand, except in S. Asia... Find out why/how inside! www.nature.com/articles/s43... [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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