The effect of global warming to California water cycle

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California-Davis, California, United State

^* Corresponding author: wxyyang@ucdavis.edu

Abstract

As global warming, climate variability becomes more and more extreme, and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are also increasing. Climate change has changed the hydrological cycle, and its change trend has put forward a severe test for the management of world water resources. Climate change has effects on several components of the water cycle, including precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, snow and snow cover, glaciers, and frozen soil. This essay analyses the vulnerability of California's various systems to climate change. California's water cycle model is particularly vulnerable to global climate change. In the past hundred years of California, the average precipitation has decreased with fluctuation; the average temperature has increased; extreme weather phenomena have occurred frequently; the evaporation of the water surface has decreased gradually; the temporal and spatial distribution of runoff has changed greatly; and glaciers have accelerated retreat. California's hydrological cycle is consistent with global water cycle change but also exhibits more complicated regional characteristics, with large spatial differences among watersheds.