Milly, P. C. D., 1993: Sensitivity of the global water cycle to the water-holding capacity of soils. In Exchange Processes at the Land Surface for a Range of Space and Time Scales, Yokohama, Japan: IAHS Publication No. 212, 495-501.

Abstract: A numerical experiment using an atmospheric general circulation model was employed to estimate the sensitivity of the global water cycle to the water-holding capacity of soils. An increase of the globally constant capacity from 4 cm to 60 cm yielded an increase (24 cm) of evaporation from land, a decrease (-11 cm) of runoff, and an increase (13 cm) of precipitation onto land. Decreased runoff was balanced by decreased water-vapor flux convergence over the continents. In the tropics, the induced weakening of the monsoonal circulations was the major factor in this net export of water vapor to the oceans; in the middle latitudes, moistening of continental air masses, with resultant reduction in onshore vapor transport by transient eddies, was the dominant mechanism.