资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

We present a conceptual advance of the global water cycle in which the precipitation concentrated in tropical coastlines plays the role of an atmospheric dehydrator between the ocean and land. Landward water vapor transport peaks as it enters the coastal region (a few hundred kilometers offshore), and about half of the water vapor is consumed as precipitation over the coastal region before reaching the inland. Our results also revealed that the significant amount of net freshwater is supplied from the atmosphere to the coastal ocean, which is comparable to that of the land water discharge. This fact further provides a new insight on the ocean salinity distribution and its associated dynamics. We discuss a possible link between the tropical land distribution and the Earth's climate through the water circulation.