The effects on society of global climate change are likely to be associated most heavily with changes in the regional availability of water. The fluxes of energy and water from land surface to atmosphere are intimately linked and depend strongly upon the moisture state of the surface. The atmospheric processes responsible for supplying this moisture are themselves sensitive to the moisture-driven fluxes in a feedback process of variable importance to weather and climate depending upon such factors as latitude and season. Following are areas of interest to CGCS researchers. Diagnostic Studies of the Hydrologica Cycle-Detection of Climate Change Natural spatial and time variability makes detection of climate change, particularly that of anthropogenic origin, difficult.
Controversy abounds about the nature of the temperature signal that is commonly analyzed.
Several other hydrometeorological variables like precipitation, streamflow, and atmospheric pressure may offer new windows for climate change detection. It is clear that new approaches need to be taken in detecting precipitation trends at the continental scale. Precipitation measurements are influenced by sampling elevation, distance from moisture sources, and nature of sampling instruments. Microclimate changes near urban areas have also been reported. Generally ignored are so-called teleconnections that exist at global scale, tying precipitation to oceanic forcing and moisture availability, and global atmospheric circulation.