A new term for prolonged periods of atmospheric thirst has been coined: thirstwaves.

Meetpal Kukal, a research hydrologist at the University of Idaho, and Mike Hobbins, a CIRES researcher in the NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory, describe the new term and examine past United States thirstwaves in a new paper published recently in Earth’s Future.

In brief

• A thirstwave is defined by Kukal and Hobbins as at least three consecutive days when daily evaporative demand is greater than its historical 90th percentile value for that period.
• Thirstwaves refer to a combination of factors that drive evaporative demand, including temperature, wind speed, and sunshine. Evaporative demand refers to how ‘thirsty’ Earth’s atmosphere is, or how readily it sucks up moisture from plants, soil, and bodies of water.
• Kukal and Hobbins found thirstwaves in the United States:
  • have become 17 percent more intense and 23 percent more frequent over the past four decades.
  • are lasting longer and are now much more likely to occur during the growing season.
  • occur more often in areas with lower average evaporative demand, like the Midwest, than in traditionally dry areas, like the Southwest desert.
• The impact: Per the researchers, more thirstwaves means crops will need more water, and current irrigation deliveries and equipment may not be able to put out water fast enough to keep up with demand. Improved understanding of thirstwaves can lead to valuable information that will help farmers better manage water resources and boost crop yields.
• What’s next: Kukal is developing a decision-support dashboard to help southern Idaho farmers better manage irrigation with the new thirstwaves research factored in.

Read the full CIRES News article

This story is adapted from the CIRES News article posted on March 20, 2025.

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Posted: March 25, 2025
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