Research themes

natural
water production

The theme natural water production aims to enhance precipitation and make more freshwater available. The key to enhancing precipitation is to increase evaporation and water recycling in a watershed. To make this vision a reality, a strong interdisciplinary approach is taken, including disciplines like meteorology, hydrology, forestry, and water technology. The theme started in 2019.

Team members

Coordination & management

Ties van der Hoeven

Theme Manager

Mohamed Zakaria Hatim

Scientific advisor

Research staff

Sarah Warnau

PhD Researcher

Gholamabbas Sadeghi

PhD Researcher

Research documents

Research projects

Sarah Warnau

Identifying meteorological pathways for more rain in dry areas through Enhanced Atmospheric Moistening

Wageningen University

Gholamabbas Sadeghi

Enhancing the local water cycle via evaporation for a sustainable water supply

Wageningen University
Publications

J.J.E. Theeuwen, S.N. Warnau, I.B. Benedict, S.C. Dekker, H.V.M. Hamelers, C.C. van Heerwaarden, A. Staal

Forest favours conditions for convective precipitation in the Mediterranean Basin

Biogeosciences, 22, 6913–6936 (2025)

S.N. Warnau, J.J.E. Theeuwen, G. Sadeghi, I. Benedict, B.H.V.M. Hamelers, C.C. van Heerwaarden

Technology-Enhanced Atmospheric Moistening (TEAM) for More Precipitation: A Perspective

Environ. Sci. Technol. (2025)

G. Sadeghi, S. Porada, H. Miedema, B.H.V.M. Hamelers

Role of Longwave Radiation in Solar Evaporation

ACS Energy Letters 10 (8): 4035–44 (2025)

J.J.E. Theeuwen, S.N. Warnau, I.B. Benedict, S.C. Dekker, H.V.M. Hamelers, C.C. van Heerwaarden, A. Staal

Forestation Tends to Create Favourable Conditions for Convective Precipitation in the Mediterranean Basin

EGUsphere (2025)

C. Hohenegger, S. Warnau, T. Shaw, S. Kang

New Look at Humidity Trends

EGU25-6554 (2025)

J.J.E. Theeuwen, S.C. Dekker, B.V.M. Hamelers, A. Staal

Ecohydrological Variables Underlie Local Moisture Recycling in Mediterranean‐type Climates

Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences 129 (10) (2024)

A. Staal, J.J.E. Theeuwen, L. Wang-Erlandsson, N. Wunderling, S.C. Dekker

Targeted rainfall enhancement as an objective of forestation

Global Change Biology, 30(1) (2024)

J.J.E. Theeuwen, A. Staal, O.A. Tuinenburg, B.V.M. Hamelers, S.C. Dekker

Local Moisture Recycling across the Globe

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 27 (7): 1457–76 (2023)

A.J. Hoek van Dijke, M. Herold, K. Mallick, I. Benedict, M. Machwitz, M. Schlerf, A. Pranindita, J.J.E. Theeuwen, J. Bastin, A.J. Teuling

Shifts in Regional Water Availability Due to Global Tree Restoration

Nature Geoscience 15 (5): 363–68

M. Soltani, B. Hamelers, A. Mofidi, T. van der Hoeven, A. Staal, S.C. Dekker, J. Arnault, P. Laux, H. Kunstmann, M. Lanters

A 20-Year Satellite-Reanalysis-Based Climatology of Extreme Precipitation Characteristics over the Sinai Peninsula

Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 931–953 (2023)

S. Cropper, K. Solander, B.D. Newman, O.A. Tuinenburg, A. Staal, J.J.E. Theeuwen, C. Xu

Comparing Deuterium Excess to Large-Scale Precipitation Recycling Models in the Tropics

Npj Climate and Atmospheric Science 4 (1): 1–9 (2021)

O.A. Tuinenburg, J.J.E. Theeuwen, A. Staal

High-resolution global atmospheric moisture connections from evaporation to precipitation

Earth Syst. Sci. Data. 12 (2020) 3177–3188

naturalwater production