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In "hydrology, moisture recycling or precipitation recycling refer to the process by which a portion of the "precipitated "water that "evapotranspired from a given area contributes to the precipitation over the same area. Moisture recycling is thus a component of the "hydrologic cycle. The ratio of the locally derived precipitation (${\displaystyle P_{L}}$) to total precipitation (${\displaystyle P}$) is known as the recycling ratio, ${\displaystyle \rho }$: ${\displaystyle \rho =P_{L}/P}$.

The recycling ratio is a diagnostic measure of the potential for interactions between "land surface hydrology and regional "climate.[1][2][3][4] "Land use changes, such as "deforestation or "agricultural intensification, have the potential to change the amount of precipitation that falls in a region. The recycling ratio for the entire world is one, and for a single point is zero. Estimates for the recycling ratio for the "Amazon basin range from 24% to 56%, and for the "Mississippi basin from 21% to 24%.[5]

The concept of moisture recycling has been integrated into the concept of the "precipitationshed. A precipitationshed is the upwind ocean and land surface that contributes evaporation to a given, downwind location's precipitation. In much the same way that a watershed is defined by a topographically explicit area that provides surface runoff, the precipitationshed is a statistically defined area within which evaporation, traveling via moisture recycling, provides precipitation for a specific point.