Table 2. Summary of moisture recycling results for each of the 29 megacities, for neutral years only (i.e. not dry or wet years).
The contribution columns indicate the amount of precipitation falling in the sink region (i.e. megacity watershed) that comes from that region, in terms of both the depth of precipitation falling in the sink region, and the fraction of annual precipitation that comes from that contributing region. Note, the ‘Watershed contribution’ column refers to internal moisture recycling within the sink region.
| Megacity | Total Precip. (mm/yr) | Terrestiral Moisture Recycling ratio | Watershed contribution (aka Sink region) | Core Precipitationshed contribution (aka Source region) | Watershed + Core Precipitationshed contribution | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| depth (mm/yr) | fraction (%/yr) | depth (mm/yr) | fraction (%/yr) | depth (mm/yr) | fraction (%/yr) | |||
| Beijing, China | 766 | 62% | 49 | 6% | 437 | 57% | 486 | 63% |
| Bengaluru, India | 833 | 25% | 39 | 5% | 62 | 7% | 101 | 12% |
| Buenos Aires, Argentina | 1,347 | 57% | 309 | 23% | 455 | 34% | 764 | 57% |
| Cairo, Egypt | 886 | 43% | 183 | 21% | 200 | 23% | 382 | 43% |
| Chicago, USA | 854 | 41% | 26 | 3% | 371 | 43% | 397 | 47% |
| Chongqing, China | 1,136 | 64% | 163 | 14% | 506 | 45% | 669 | 59% |
| Delhi, India | 732 | 43% | 39 | 5% | 147 | 20% | 186 | 25% |
| Dhaka, Bangladesh | 1,523 | 47% | 279 | 18% | 400 | 26% | 679 | 45% |
| Guangzhou, China | 1,741 | 36% | 107 | 6% | 442 | 25% | 549 | 32% |
| Istanbul, Turkey | 685 | 42% | 26 | 4% | 126 | 18% | 153 | 22% |
| Jakarta, Indonesia | 2,147 | 18% | 52 | 2% | 80 | 4% | 132 | 6% |
| Karachi, Pakistan | 676 | 49% | 123 | 18% | 222 | 33% | 344 | 51% |
| Kinshasa, DRC | 2,038 | 52% | 75 | 4% | 606 | 30% | 681 | 33% |
| Kolkata, India | 1,063 | 44% | 161 | 15% | 337 | 32% | 498 | 47% |
| Lagos, Nigeria | 1.479 | 51% | 91 | 6% | 471 | 32% | 562 | 38% |
| Los Angeles, USA | 406 | 29% | 40 | 10% | 33 | 8% | 73 | 18% |
| Manila, Philippines | 2,115 | 12% | 42 | 2% | 19 | 1% | 62 | 3% |
| Mexico City, Mexico | 694 | 32% | 71 | 10% | 97 | 14% | 168 | 24% |
| Moscow, Russia | 733 | 42% | 20 | 3% | 157 | 21% | 176 | 24% |
| Mumbai, India | 1,053 | 28% | 15 | 1% | 5 | 0% | 20 | 2% |
| New York City, USA | 1,178 | 37% | 26 | 2% | 296 | 25% | 322 | 27% |
| Osaka-Kobe, Japan | 1,510 | 29% | 53 | 3% | 128 | 8% | 181 | 12% |
| Paris, France | 844 | 28% | 24 | 3% | 57 | 7% | 81 | 10% |
| Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 1,238 | 46% | 46 | 4% | 354 | 29% | 400 | 32% |
| Sao Paulo, Brazil | 1,304 | 54% | 71 | 5% | 566 | 43% | 637 | 49% |
| Shanghai, China | 1,203 | 37% | 22 | 2% | 207 | 17% | 228 | 19% |
| Shenzhen, China | 1,840 | 29% | 38 | 2% | 302 | 16% | 340 | 18% |
| Tokyo, Japan | 1,572 | 26% | 23 | 1% | 39 | 2% | 62 | 4% |
| Wuhan, China | 1,311 | 56% | 176 | 13% | 502 | 38% | 678 | 52% |