IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v140y2017i2d10.1007_s10584-016-1850-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of air pollution induced climate change on water availability and ecosystem productivity in the conterminous United States

Author

Listed:
  • Kai Duan

    (North Carolina State University)

  • Ge Sun

    (Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service)

  • Yang Zhang

    (North Carolina State University)

  • Khairunnisa Yahya

    (North Carolina State University)

  • Kai Wang

    (North Carolina State University)

  • James M. Madden

    (North Carolina State University)

  • Peter V. Caldwell

    (Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, USDA Forest Service)

  • Erika C. Cohen

    (Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service)

  • Steven G. McNulty

    (Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service)

Abstract

Air pollution from greenhouse gases and atmospheric aerosols are the major driving force of climate change that directly alters the terrestrial hydrological cycle and ecosystem functions. However, most current Global Climate Models (GCMs) use prescribed chemical concentrations of limited species; they do not explicitly simulate the time-varying concentrations of trace gases and aerosols and their impacts on climate change. This study investigates the individual and combined impacts of climate change and air pollution on water availability and ecosystem productivity over the conterminous US (CONUS). An ecohydrological model is driven by multiple regional climate scenarios with and without taking into account the impacts of air pollutants on the climate system. The results indicate that regional chemistry-climate feedbacks may largely offset the future warming and wetting trends predicted by GCMs without considering air pollution at the CONUS scale. Consequently, the interactions of air pollution and climate change are expected to significantly reduce water availability by the middle of twenty-first century. On the other hand, the combined impact of climate change and air pollution on ecosystem productivity is less pronounced, but there may still be notable declines in eastern and central regions. The results suggest that air pollution could aggravate regional climate change impacts on water shortage. We conclude that air pollution plays an important role in affecting climate and thus ecohydrological processes. Overlooking the impact of air pollution may cause evident overestimation of future water availability and ecosystem productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai Duan & Ge Sun & Yang Zhang & Khairunnisa Yahya & Kai Wang & James M. Madden & Peter V. Caldwell & Erika C. Cohen & Steven G. McNulty, 2017. "Impact of air pollution induced climate change on water availability and ecosystem productivity in the conterminous United States," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 259-272, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:140:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1850-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1850-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-016-1850-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-016-1850-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. A. Kay & A. Rudd & H. Davies & E. Kendon & R. Jones, 2015. "Use of very high resolution climate model data for hydrological modelling: baseline performance and future flood changes," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 193-208, November.
    2. Trevor F. Keenan & David Y. Hollinger & Gil Bohrer & Danilo Dragoni & J. William Munger & Hans Peter Schmid & Andrew D. Richardson, 2013. "Increase in forest water-use efficiency as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations rise," Nature, Nature, vol. 499(7458), pages 324-327, July.
    3. N. Gedney & P. M. Cox & R. A. Betts & O. Boucher & C. Huntingford & P. A. Stott, 2006. "Detection of a direct carbon dioxide effect in continental river runoff records," Nature, Nature, vol. 439(7078), pages 835-838, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Siwen Ji & Shuhua Ma, 2022. "The effects of industrial pollution on ecosystem service value: a case study in a heavy industrial area, China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6804-6833, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yao Zhang & Pierre Gentine & Xiangzhong Luo & Xu Lian & Yanlan Liu & Sha Zhou & Anna M. Michalak & Wu Sun & Joshua B. Fisher & Shilong Piao & Trevor F. Keenan, 2022. "Increasing sensitivity of dryland vegetation greenness to precipitation due to rising atmospheric CO2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Haoshan Wei & Yongqiang Zhang & Qi Huang & Francis H. S. Chiew & Jinkai Luan & Jun Xia & Changming Liu, 2024. "Direct vegetation response to recent CO2 rise shows limited effect on global streamflow," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Li, Sien & Kang, Shaozhong & Zhang, Lu & Du, Taisheng & Tong, Ling & Ding, Risheng & Guo, Weihua & Zhao, Peng & Chen, Xia & Xiao, Huan, 2015. "Ecosystem water use efficiency for a sparse vineyard in arid northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 24-33.
    4. Alvaro Calzadilla & Katrin Rehdanz & Richard Betts & Pete Falloon & Andy Wiltshire & Richard Tol, 2013. "Climate change impacts on global agriculture," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 357-374, September.
    5. Johan Grijsen, 2014. "Understanding the Impact of Climate Change on Hydropower : The Case of Cameroon," World Bank Publications - Reports 18243, The World Bank Group.
    6. Calzadilla, Alvaro & Zhu, Tingju & Rehdanz, Katrin & Tol, Richard S.J. & Ringler, Claudia, 2013. "Economywide impacts of climate change on agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 150-165.
    7. Chen, Lu & Luo, Yong & Tang, Jialiang & Zhang, Xifeng & Liu, Haowen & Cui, Junfang & Zheng, Jing & Dong, Xiaoming, 2024. "Determination of optimum solum thickness of sloping cropland for maize plantation in an Entisol based on water use strategy and plant traits," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    8. Alison Kay, 2022. "Differences in hydrological impacts using regional climate model and nested convection-permitting model data," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Jaeil Cho & Hikaru Komatsu & Yadu Pokhrel & Pat Yeh & Taikan Oki & Shinjiro Kanae, 2011. "The effects of annual precipitation and mean air temperature on annual runoff in global forest regions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 401-410, September.
    10. Simioni, Guillaume & Marie, Guillaume & Davi, Hendrik & Martin-St Paul, Nicolas & Huc, Roland, 2020. "Natural forest dynamics have more influence than climate change on the net ecosystem production of a mixed Mediterranean forest," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 416(C).
    11. Muhammad Umer Masood & Saif Haider & Muhammad Rashid & Mohammed Suleman Aldlemy & Chaitanya B. Pande & Bojan Đurin & Raad Z. Homod & Fahad Alshehri & Ismail Elkhrachy, 2023. "Quantifying the Impacts of Climate and Land Cover Changes on the Hydrological Regime of a Complex Dam Catchment Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-28, October.
    12. Hans van Meijl & Petr Havlik & Hermann Lotze-Campen & Elke Stehfest & Peter Witzke & Ignacio Perez Dominguez & Benjamin Bodirsky & Michiel van Dijk & Jonathan Doelman & Thomas Fellmann & Florian Humpe, 2017. "Challenges of Global Agriculture in a Climate Change Context by 2050 (AgCLIM50)," JRC Research Reports JRC106835, Joint Research Centre.
    13. Sergio M. Vicente‐Serrano & Tim R. McVicar & Diego G. Miralles & Yuting Yang & Miquel Tomas‐Burguera, 2020. "Unraveling the influence of atmospheric evaporative demand on drought and its response to climate change," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(2), March.
    14. Yiping Wu & Shuguang Liu & Omar Abdul-Aziz, 2012. "Hydrological effects of the increased CO 2 and climate change in the Upper Mississippi River Basin using a modified SWAT," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 977-1003, February.
    15. Feng, Dingrao & Bao, Wenkai & Yang, Yuanyuan & Fu, Meichen, 2021. "How do government policies promote greening? Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    16. Guo, Liangliang & Wang, Xuejie & Wang, Shaobo & Tan, Dechong & Han, Huifang & Ning, Tangyuan & Li, Quanqi, 2019. "Tillage and irrigation effects on carbon emissions and water use of summer maize in North China Plains," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Yu, Haichao & Li, Sien & Ding, Jie & Yang, Tianyi & Wang, Yuexin, 2023. "Water use efficiency and its drivers of two typical cash crops in an arid area of Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    18. David L. Miller & Sebastian Wolf & Joshua B. Fisher & Benjamin F. Zaitchik & Jingfeng Xiao & Trevor F. Keenan, 2023. "Increased photosynthesis during spring drought in energy-limited ecosystems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Jiang, Shouzheng & Wu, Jie & Wang, Zhihui & He, Ziling & Wang, Mingjun & Yao, Weiwei & Feng, Yu, 2023. "Spatiotemporal variations of cropland carbon sequestration and water loss across China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    20. Gong, Daozhi & Mei, Xurong & Hao, Weiping & Wang, Hanbo & Caylor, Kelly K., 2017. "Comparison of multi-level water use efficiency between plastic film partially mulched and non-mulched croplands at eastern Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 215-226.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:140:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1850-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.