---
_id: '9143'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Understanding and predicting the response of the hydrological cycle to climate
    change is a major challenge with important societal implications. Much progress
    has been made in understanding the response of global average precipitation by
    considering the energy balances of the atmosphere and the surface1,2,3,4,5,6.
    This energetic perspective reveals that changes in temperature, greenhouse gases,
    aerosols, solar forcing and cloud feedbacks can all affect the global average
    rate of precipitation5,7,8,9,10,11. Local precipitation changes have conventionally
    been analysed using the water vapour budget, but here we show that the energetic
    approach can be extended to local changes in precipitation by including changes
    in horizontal energy transport. In simulations of twenty-first century climate
    change, this energy transport accounts for much of the spatial variability in
    precipitation change. We show that changes in radiative and surface sensible heat
    fluxes are a guide to the local precipitation response over land and at large
    scales, but not at small scales over the ocean, where cloud and water vapour radiative
    feedbacks dampen the response. The energetic approach described here helps bridge
    the gap between our understanding of global and regional precipitation changes.
    It could be applied to better understand the response of regional precipitation
    to different radiative forcings, including geo-engineering schemes, as well as
    to understand the differences between the fast and slow responses of regional
    precipitation to such forcings.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Caroline J
  full_name: Muller, Caroline J
  id: f978ccb0-3f7f-11eb-b193-b0e2bd13182b
  last_name: Muller
  orcid: 0000-0001-5836-5350
- first_name: P. A.
  full_name: O’Gorman, P. A.
  last_name: O’Gorman
citation:
  ama: Muller CJ, O’Gorman PA. An energetic perspective on the regional response of
    precipitation to climate change. <i>Nature Climate Change</i>. 2011;1(5):266-271.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1169">10.1038/nclimate1169</a>
  apa: Muller, C. J., &#38; O’Gorman, P. A. (2011). An energetic perspective on the
    regional response of precipitation to climate change. <i>Nature Climate Change</i>.
    Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1169">https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1169</a>
  chicago: Muller, Caroline J, and P. A. O’Gorman. “An Energetic Perspective on the
    Regional Response of Precipitation to Climate Change.” <i>Nature Climate Change</i>.
    Springer Nature, 2011. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1169">https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1169</a>.
  ieee: C. J. Muller and P. A. O’Gorman, “An energetic perspective on the regional
    response of precipitation to climate change,” <i>Nature Climate Change</i>, vol.
    1, no. 5. Springer Nature, pp. 266–271, 2011.
  ista: Muller CJ, O’Gorman PA. 2011. An energetic perspective on the regional response
    of precipitation to climate change. Nature Climate Change. 1(5), 266–271.
  mla: Muller, Caroline J., and P. A. O’Gorman. “An Energetic Perspective on the Regional
    Response of Precipitation to Climate Change.” <i>Nature Climate Change</i>, vol.
    1, no. 5, Springer Nature, 2011, pp. 266–71, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1169">10.1038/nclimate1169</a>.
  short: C.J. Muller, P.A. O’Gorman, Nature Climate Change 1 (2011) 266–271.
date_created: 2021-02-15T14:39:29Z
date_published: 2011-07-24T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2022-01-24T13:52:11Z
day: '24'
doi: 10.1038/nclimate1169
extern: '1'
intvolume: '         1'
issue: '5'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '07'
oa_version: None
page: 266-271
publication: Nature Climate Change
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 1758-678X
  - 1758-6798
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
status: public
title: An energetic perspective on the regional response of precipitation to climate
  change
type: journal_article
user_id: 8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9
volume: 1
year: '2011'
...