Human-Induced Changes in the Hydrology of the Western United States
Top Cited Papers
- 22 February 2008
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 319 (5866), 1080-1083
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1152538
Abstract
Observations have shown that the hydrological cycle of the western United States changed significantly over the last half of the 20th century. We present a regional, multivariable climate change detection and attribution study, using a high-resolution hydrologic model forced by global climate models, focusing on the changes that have already affected this primarily arid region with a large and growing population. The results show that up to 60% of the climate-related trends of river flow, winter air temperature, and snow pack between 1950 and 1999 are human-induced. These results are robust to perturbation of study variates and methods. They portend, in conjunction with previous work, a coming crisis in water supply for the western United States.Keywords
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