Seasonal cycle of water storage in major river basins of the world

The seasonal cycle of water storage of each of the 70 major river basins of the world is evaluated by means of basin-atmosphere water budgets. The atm ospheric data of National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Reana lysis is used together with river runoff data. In the tropics and in the temperate zone of East Asia, storage becomes larg est at the end of the rainy season and smallest at the beginning of the rai ny season. In the cold region and in the temperate zone of North America, s torage becomes largest in spring and smallest in summer or autumn. The glob al sum of storage becomes largest in spring of the northern hemisphere, whe n the contribution of the northern cold region and the southern tropics coi ncide.