TY - JOUR
T1 - Groundwater depletion estimated from GRACE
T2 - A challenge of sustainable development in an arid region of Central Asia
AU - Hu, Zengyun
AU - Zhou, Qiming
AU - Chen, Xi
AU - Chen, Deliang
AU - Li, Jianfeng
AU - Guo, Meiyu
AU - Yin, Gang
AU - Duan, Zheng
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Pan-Third Pole Environment Study for a Green Silk Road (Pan-TPE XDA20060303), the Western Scholars of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2015-XBQN-B-20), the National Science Foundation of China (Project 71704150), General Research Fund (HKBU 203913) and Early Career Scheme (HKBU 22301916) of Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Baptist University Faculty Research Grant (FRG2/14-15/073, FRG2/16-17/004 and FRG 2/17-18/030), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20020101).
Publisher copyright:
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2019/8/15
Y1 - 2019/8/15
N2 - Under climate change and increasing water demands, groundwater depletion has become regional and global threats for water security, which is an indispensable target to achieving sustainable developments of human society and ecosystems, especially in arid and semiarid regions where groundwater is a major water source. In this study, groundwater depletion of 2003-2016 over Xinjiang in China, a typical arid region of Central Asia, is assessed using the gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) satellite and the global land data assimilation system (GLDAS) datasets. In the transition of a warm-dry to a warm-wet climate in Xinjiang, increases in precipitation, soil moisture and snow water equivalent are detected, while GRACE-based groundwater storage anomalies (GWSA) exhibit significant decreasing trends with rates between-3.61 ± 0.85 mm/a of CSR-GWSA and -3.10 ± 0.91 mm/a of JPL-GWSA. Groundwater depletion is more severe in autumn and winter. The decreases in GRACE-based GWSA are in a good agreement with the groundwater statistics collected from local authorities. However, at the same time, groundwater abstraction in Xinjiang doubled, and the water supplies get more dependent on groundwater. The magnitude of groundwater depletion is about that of annual groundwater abstraction, suggesting that scientific exploitation of groundwater is the key to ensure the sustainability of freshwater withdrawals and supplies. Furthermore, GWSA changes can be well estimated by the partial least square regression (PLSR) method based on inputs of climate data. Therefore, GRACE observations provide a feasible approach for local policy makers to monitor and forecast groundwater changes to control groundwater depletion.
AB - Under climate change and increasing water demands, groundwater depletion has become regional and global threats for water security, which is an indispensable target to achieving sustainable developments of human society and ecosystems, especially in arid and semiarid regions where groundwater is a major water source. In this study, groundwater depletion of 2003-2016 over Xinjiang in China, a typical arid region of Central Asia, is assessed using the gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) satellite and the global land data assimilation system (GLDAS) datasets. In the transition of a warm-dry to a warm-wet climate in Xinjiang, increases in precipitation, soil moisture and snow water equivalent are detected, while GRACE-based groundwater storage anomalies (GWSA) exhibit significant decreasing trends with rates between-3.61 ± 0.85 mm/a of CSR-GWSA and -3.10 ± 0.91 mm/a of JPL-GWSA. Groundwater depletion is more severe in autumn and winter. The decreases in GRACE-based GWSA are in a good agreement with the groundwater statistics collected from local authorities. However, at the same time, groundwater abstraction in Xinjiang doubled, and the water supplies get more dependent on groundwater. The magnitude of groundwater depletion is about that of annual groundwater abstraction, suggesting that scientific exploitation of groundwater is the key to ensure the sustainability of freshwater withdrawals and supplies. Furthermore, GWSA changes can be well estimated by the partial least square regression (PLSR) method based on inputs of climate data. Therefore, GRACE observations provide a feasible approach for local policy makers to monitor and forecast groundwater changes to control groundwater depletion.
KW - Arid region
KW - GLDAS
KW - GRACE
KW - Groundwater variation
KW - Sustainable development
KW - Terrestrial water storage
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071559928&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/rs11161908
DO - 10.3390/rs11161908
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85071559928
SN - 2072-4292
VL - 11
JO - Remote Sensing
JF - Remote Sensing
IS - 16
M1 - 1908
ER -