Gainers and losers of surface and terrestrial water resources in China during 1989–2016

Wang, Xinxin; Xiao, Xiangming; Zou, Zhenhua; Dong, Jinwei; Qin, Yuanwei; Doughty, Russell; Menarguez, Michael A.; Chen, Bangqian; Wang, Junbang; Ye, Hui; Ma, Jun; Zhong, Qiaoyan; Zhao, Bin; Li, Bo

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17103-w

Cited by 88 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(159 reference statements)

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“…Trend analysis and breakpoint analysis jointly revealed that the most general shift characterization of the space-time pattern is that TWS rapidly and continuously decreased in the North, while the TWS widely increased in the South. These results are consistent with previous studies [19,43].…”

Section: Water Storage Changes Aggravate the Spatial Heterogeneity Of Water Resourcessupporting

confidence: 94%

“…The global surface water storage accounts for 36.08% of the TWS, which is an important part of the water cycle [14]. The surface water resources of NC also showed a decreasing trend over a long time [19], we propose that the change of open water body area may be another reason for the decline in TWS.…”

Section: The Dominant Driver Is Different Across East Asian Monsoon Areasmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…China has abundant water resources. However, due to the large population, diverse climate, and complex landform, the contradiction between the supply and demand of water resources in local areas is very prominent [18,19]. The water resources bulletin shows that China's available water per capita is approximately 2200 m 3 , which is only a quarter of the world average [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Divergent Trends of Water Storage Observed via Gravity Satellite across Distinct Areas in China

Sun

Han

et al. 2020

Water

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Knowledge of the spatiotemporal variations of terrestrial water storage (TWS) is critical for the sustainable management of water resources in China. However, this knowledge has not been quantified and compared for the different climate types and underlying surface characteristics. Here, we present observational evidence for the spatiotemporal dynamics of water storage based on the products from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) in China over 2003–2016. Our results were the following: (1) gravity satellite dataset showed divergent trends of TWS across distinct areas due to human factors and climate factors. The overall changing trend of water storage is that the north experiences a loss of water and the south gains in water, which aggravates the uneven spatial distribution of water resources in China. (2) In the eastern monsoon area, the depletion of water storage in North China (NC) was found to be mostly due to anthropogenic disturbance through groundwater pumping in plain areas. However, precipitation was shown to be a key driver for the increase of water storage in South China (SC). Increasing precipitation in SC was linked to atmospheric circulation enhancement and Pacific Ocean warming, meaning an unrecognized teleconnection between circulation anomalies and water storage. (3) At high altitudes in the west, the change of water storage was affected by the melting of ice and snow due to the rising temperatures, yet the topography determines the trend of water storage. We found that the mountainous terrain led to the loss of water storage in Tianshan Mountain (TSM), while the closed basin topography gathered the melted water in the interior of the Tibetan Plateau (ITP). This study highlights the impacts of the local climate and topography on terrestrial water storage, and has reference value for the government and the public to address the crisis of water resources in China.

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Section: Water Storage Changes Aggravate the Spatial Heterogeneity Of Water Resourcessupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: The Dominant Driver Is Different Across East Asian Monsoon Areasmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Divergent Trends of Water Storage Observed via Gravity Satellite across Distinct Areas in China

Sun

Han

et al. 2020

Water

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“…The Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) method [57] is used to extract lake area with NDWI = (green-NIR)/(green + NIR), where green represents the green band, and NIR represents the near-infrared band. This method has been widely used to extract lake areas on the Tibetan Plateau [4,16,58], and modifies some incorrect lake boundaries obtained through automatic extraction by manual interpretation.…”

Section: Extraction Of the Lake Area And Estimation Of Lake Water Storage Change 221 Multi-temporal Landsat Images For Extracting Lake Armentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These results indicated that the cause of increased TWS of the inner Tibetan Plateau was the increased LWS, because glacial meltwater had little influence on the TWSC of the inner Tibetan Plateau, as it merely converted from solid to liquid. Wang et al [16] analyzed the spatial-temporal divergence and consistency between surface water area change and TWSC in China during 1989-2016. Previous studies have mainly focused on the whole Tibetan Plateau, and the increase in LWS and TWS of the whole Tibetan Plateau was consistent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Difference of Terrestrial Water Storage Change and Lake Water Storage Change in the Inner Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2021

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Water resources are rich on the Tibetan Plateau, with large amounts of glaciers, lakes, and permafrost. Terrestrial water storage (TWS) on the Tibetan Plateau has experienced a significant change in recent decades. However, there is a lack of research about the spatial difference between TWSC and lake water storage change (LWSC), which is helpful to understand the response of water storage to climate change. In this study, we estimate the change in TWS, lake water storage (LWS), soil moisture, and permafrost, respectively, according to satellite and model data during 2005−2013 in the inner Tibetan Plateau and glacial meltwater from previous literature. The results indicate a sizeable spatial difference between TWSC and LWSC. LWSC was mainly concentrated in the northeastern part (18.71 ± 1.35 Gt, 37.7% of the total) and southeastern part (22.68 ± 1.63 Gt, 45.6% of the total), but the increased TWS was mainly in the northeastern region (region B, 18.96 ± 1.26 Gt, 57%). Based on mass balance, LWSC was the primary cause of TWSC for the entire inner Tibetan Plateau. However, the TWS of the southeastern part increased by 3.97 ± 2.5 Gt, but LWS had increased by 22.68 ± 1.63 Gt, and groundwater had lost 16.91 ± 7.26 Gt. The increased TWS in the northeastern region was equivalent to the increased LWS, and groundwater had increased by 4.47 ± 4.87 Gt. Still, LWS only increased by 2.89 ± 0.21 Gt in the central part, and the increase in groundwater was the primary cause of TWSC. These results suggest that the primary cause of increased TWS shows a sizeable spatial difference. According to the water balance, an increase in precipitation was the primary cause of lake expansion for the entire inner Tibetan Plateau, which contributed 73% (36.28 Gt) to lake expansion (49.69 ± 3.58 Gt), and both glacial meltwater and permafrost degradation was 13.5%.

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Assessing changes in total water storage in two large freshwater lake basins of China

Zhang

Liu

et al. 2022

Hydrological Processes

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The quantitative assessment of changes in total water storage (TWS) is of great significance for regional water resources management in basins with large lakes. Here, the basins of Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, the two largest freshwater lakes in China, were selected to assess TWS changes using multi-source datasets. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) TWS anomalies (TWSA) increased by 8.8 mm a À2 (p < 0.01) and 8.3 mm a À2 (p < 0.01) from 2003 to 2016 for the Poyang Lake Basin (PYLB) and Dongting Lake Basin (DTLB), respectively. Four major components, namely lake water storage, soil moisture storage, groundwater storage and reservoir storage, contributed positively to the TWSA increase in the two lake basins.The TWSA increase was dominated by groundwater storage increase (52.6%) over PYLB and by reservoir storage increase (47.4%) over DTLB. The increases in soil moisture storage contributed 22.4% and 27.6% to TWSA changes for PYLB and DTLB, respectively, which were mainly caused by increases in precipitation. The contributions of lake water storage to TWSA increases were only 4.3% and 1.3% in PYLB and DTLB, respectively, indicating that the impacts of water storage in natural lakes on TWS were far lower than those of reservoirs, even in basins with large lakes. The results highlight that reservoir and groundwater storage play crucial roles in TWS partitioning, suggesting that attention should be paid to the two components of land surface and hydrological simulations in highly populated lake basins under global change.

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Gainers and losers of surface and terrestrial water resources in China during 1989–2016

Cited by 88 publications

References 68 publications

Divergent Trends of Water Storage Observed via Gravity Satellite across Distinct Areas in China

Divergent Trends of Water Storage Observed via Gravity Satellite across Distinct Areas in China

Spatial Difference of Terrestrial Water Storage Change and Lake Water Storage Change in the Inner Tibetan Plateau

Assessing changes in total water storage in two large freshwater lake basins of China

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