Solar Irradiance and Streamflow

Kansas District, U.S. Geological Survey
AUTHOR: Charles A. Perry, Research Hydrologist

Variations of Total Solar Irradiance Affect Regional Floods and Droughts

Research focuses on the hypothesis that variations of the total solar irradiance reaching the Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses, and other climatic factors are important in precipitation formation and resulting runoff on a regional scale. Each region has a unique response to solar-irradiance fluctuations and other additional climatic factors that may be used to estimate future flow patterns.

Observed and empirically modeled solar-irradiance variations have been linked to changes in regional precipitation (Perry, 1994), in runoff in selected basins in the United States (Perry, 1995) and annual flows of the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri (Perry, 2000a). The mechanism responsible for the linkage is thought to involve four important processes:

1. Variable solar irradiance is absorbed by tropical oceans creating large pools in the oceans with different amounts of stored energy;
2. Pools of ocean water with varying amounts of stored energy are transported by major ocean currents to other global locations where;
3. Differential evaporation rates from oceanic areas alter global atmospheric pressure patterns (i.e., jetstream position and associated atmospheric vorticity);
4. These patterns dictate regional precipitation and temperature distribution and, consequently, the regional water resources.

Solar irradiance data and additional information from Goddard Space Flight Center, Beltsville, MD.

Papers On Line

 

Perry, C.A., 2007, Evidence for a physical linkage between galactic cosmic rays and regional climate time series: Advances in Space Research, Vol 40, doi:10.1016/j.asr2007.02.079, p.353-364

 

Perry, C.A., 2006, Midwestern streamflow, precipitation, and atmospheric vorticity influenced by Pacific sea-surface temperatures and total solar-irradiance variations: International Journal of Climatology, v. 26, p. 207-218.

 

Perry, C.A., 2006, News Release, Variations in Sun’s Output Linked to Midwestern Floods and Droughts, February 28, 2006

 

Perry, C.A., 2000a, A regression model for annual streamflow in the upper Mississippi River Basin based on solar irradiance, in West, G.J., and Buffaloe, Lauren, eds., Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Pacific Climate Workshop, Santa Catalina Island, California, May 24-27, 1999; Interagency Ecological Program for Sacramento-San Joanquin Delta Technical Report 65, p. 161-170.  

Perry, C.A., and Hsu, K.J., 2000, Geophysical, archaeological, and historical evidence support a solar-output model for climate change: Proceedings of National Academy of Science, v. 97, no. 23, p. 1244-12438.

 

Perry, C.A., 1995, Association between solar-irradiance variations and hydroclimatology of selected regions of the USA, in Proceedings of 6th International Meeting on Statistical Climatology, Galway, Ireland, June 19-23, 1995: Steering Committee for International Meetings on Statistican Climatology, p. 239-242

 

Perry, C.A., 1994, Solar-irradiance variations and regional precipitation fluctuations in the western United States: International Journal of Climatology, v. 14, November 1994, p. 969-983.

Hydrologic, Meteorologic, and Climatologic Data

Climate Related Bibliography

For more information contact:
Charles Perry
U.S. Geological Survey
4821 Quail Crest Place
Lawrence, Kansas 66049-3839
(785) 832-3549
email: cperry@usgs.gov