Simulating the evolution of the topography-climate coupled system

Abstract

Landscape evolution models simulate the long-term variation of topography under given rainfall scenarios. In reality, local rainfall is largely affected by topography, implying that surface topography and local climate evolve together. Herein, we develop a numerical simulation model for the evolution of the topography-climate coupled system. We investigate how simulated topography and rain field vary between "no-feedback" and "co-evolution" simulations. Co-evolution simulations produced results significantly different from those of no-feedback simulations, as illustrated by transects and time evolution in rainfall excess among others. We show that the evolving system keeps climatic and geomorphic footprints in asymmetric transects and local relief. We investigate the roles of the wind speed and the time lags between hydrometeor formation and rainfall (called the delay time) in the co-evolution. While their combined effects were thought to be represented by the non-dimensional delay time, we demonstrate that the evolution of the coupled system can be more complicated than previously thought. The channel concavity on the windward side becomes lower as the imposed wind speed or the delay time grows. This tendency is explained with the effect of generated spatial rainfall distribution on the area-runoff relationship.