Detecting and quantifying the impact of long-term terrestrial water storage changes on the runoff ratio in the head regions of the two largest rivers in China

AbstractTexas is subject to severe droughts, including the record-breaking one in 2011. To investigate the critical hydrometeorological processes during drought, we use a land surface model, Noah-MP, to simulate water availability and investigate the causes of the record drought. We conduct a series of experiments with runoff schemes, vegetation phenology, and plant rooting depth. Observation-based terrestrial water storage, evapotranspiration, runoff, and leaf area index are used to compare with results from the model. Overall, the results suggest that using different parameterizations can influence the modeled water availability, especially during drought. The drought-induced vegetation responses not only interact with water availability but also affect the ground temperature. Our evaluation shows that Noah-MP with a groundwater scheme produces a better temporal relationship in terrestrial water storage compared with observations. Leaf area index from dynamic vegetation is better simulated in wet years than dry years. Reduction of positive biases in runoff and reduction of negative biases in evapotranspiration are found in simulations with groundwater, dynamic vegetation, and deeper rooting zone depth. Multi-parameterization experiments show the uncertainties of drought monitoring and provide a mechanistic understanding of disparities in dry anomalies.

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Using GRACE Data to Study the Impact of Snow and Rainfall on Terrestrial Water Storage in Northeast China

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12244166 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (24) ◽

pp. 4166

Author(s):

An Qian ◽

Shuang Yi ◽

Le Chang ◽

Guangtong Sun ◽

Xiaoyang Liu

Keyword(s):

Northeast China ◽

Snow Water Equivalent ◽

Southern Oscillation ◽

Water Storage ◽

Summer Rainfall ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Maximum Rainfall ◽

Monthly Total Precipitation ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

The Impact

Water resources are important for agricultural, industrial, and urban development. In this paper, we analyzed the influence of rainfall and snowfall on variations in terrestrial water storage (TWS) in Northeast China from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) gravity satellite data, GlobSnow snow water equivalent product, and ERA5-land monthly total precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth data. This study revealed the main composition and variation characteristics of TWS in Northeast China. We found that GRACE provided an effective method for monitoring large areas of stable seasonal snow cover and variations in TWS in Northeast China at both seasonal and interannual scales. On the seasonal scale, although summer rainfall was 10 times greater than winter snowfall, the terrestrial water storage in Northeast China peaked in winter, and summer rainfall brought about only a sub-peak, 1 month later than the maximum rainfall. On the interannual scale, TWS in Northeast China was controlled by rainfall. The correlation analysis results revealed that the annual fluctuations of TWS and rainfall in Northeast China appear to be influenced by ENSO (EI Niño–Southern Oscillation) events with a lag of 2–3 years. In addition, this study proposed a reconstruction model for the interannual variation in TWS in Northeast China from 2003 to 2016 on the basis of the contemporary terrestrial water storage and rainfall data.

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Assessment of Three Common Methods for Estimating Terrestrial Water Storage Change with Three Reanalysis Datasets

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-18-0637.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 511-525 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shanshan Deng ◽

Suxia Liu ◽

Xingguo Mo

Keyword(s):

Water Balance ◽

Hydrological Cycle ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Water Storage ◽

Balance Method ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Water Balance Method ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

The Impact ◽

Storage Change

AbstractTerrestrial water storage change (TWSC) plays a crucial role in the hydrological cycle and climate system. To date, methods including 1) the terrestrial water balance method (PER), 2) the combined atmospheric and terrestrial water balance method (AT), and 3) the summation method (SS) have been developed to estimate TWSC, but the accuracy of these methods has not been systematically compared. This paper compares the spatial and temporal differences of the TWSC estimates by the three methods comprehensively with the GRACE data during the 2002–13 period. To avoid the impact of different inputs in the comparison, three advanced reanalysis datasets are used, namely 1) the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)–Department of Energy (DOE) Reanalysis II (NCEP R2), 2) the ECMWF interim reanalysis (ERA-Interim), and 3) the Japanese 55-Year Reanalysis (JRA-55). The results show that all estimates with PER and AT considerably overestimate the long-term mean on a regional scale because the data assimilation in the reanalysis opens the water budget. The difficulty of atmospheric observation and simulation in arid and polar tundra regions is the documented reason for the failure of the AT method to represent the TWSC phase over 30% of the region found in this study. Although the SS result exhibited the best overall agreement with GRACE, the amplitude of TWSC based on SS differed substantially from that of GRACE and the similarity coefficient of the global distribution between the SS-derived estimate and GRACE is still not high. More detailed considerations of groundwater and human activities, for example, irrigation and reservoir impoundments, can help SS to achieve a higher accuracy.

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Long-term temporal prediction of terrestrial water storage changes over global basins using GRACE and limited GRACE-FO data

Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica ◽

10.1007/s40328-021-00338-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gonca Okay Ahi ◽

Hatice Oncel Cekim

Keyword(s):

Water Storage ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Temporal Prediction ◽

Terrestrial Water

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Specifics of long-term dynamics of terrestrial water storage detected using GRACE satellite in Belgorod region

RUDN Journal of Agronomy and Animal Industries ◽

10.22363/2312-797x-2020-15-4-363-374 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 363-374

Author(s):

Igor Yu. Savin ◽

Bakhytnur S. Gabdullin

Keyword(s):

Satellite Data ◽

Water Storage ◽

Local Maximum ◽

Positive Trend ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Entire Area ◽

North West ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

Grace Satellite

GRACE monthly satellite data for the period from 2002 to 2016 were used to analyze the longterm dynamics of the terrestrial water storage in the Belgorod region of Russia. The correlation of satellite data with climatic water balance with a lag varying on the territory from 2 to 4 months was revealed. There was found a stable tendency to decrease in terrestrial water storage, and predominance of negative values on the territory of the Belgorod region since 2008. The minimum attains the lowest values in comparison with the whole studied period. However, seasonality of the changes is maintained throughout the entire analyzed time series. The frequency of changes in the terrestrial water storage throughout the entire area is not very clear: only the long-term maximum of the terrestrial water storage of the territory in 2006 is well expressed. Another, less pronounced local maximum was observed in 2013. Local long-term minima of the terrestrial water storage of the territory were in 2002, 2009 and 2015. There is a positive trend in the amplitude of seasonal fluctuations in the terrestrial water storage of the territory: the amplitude has been constantly increasing in recent years. The territory of the Belgorod region has negative long-term trend of terrestrial water storage with their rather large spatial variation. The angle of inclination of the trend decreases from north-west to south-east in the region. GRACE satellite data can serve as a fairly reliable detection indicator of the trend of terrestrial water storage in large areas.

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Impact of variability in the hydrological cycle components on vegetation growth in an alpine basin of the southeastern Tibet Plateau, China

Hydrology Research ◽

10.2166/nh.2021.086 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chunguang Ban ◽

Zongxue Xu ◽

Depeng Zuo ◽

Rui Zhang ◽

Hao Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vegetation Index ◽

Snow Water Equivalent ◽

Hydrological Cycle ◽

Water Storage ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Upstream Region ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Vegetation Growth ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

The Impact

Abstract Vegetation is affected by hydrological cycle components that have altered under the influence of climate change. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the impact of hydrological cycle components on regional vegetation growth, especially in alpine regions. In this study, we employed multiple satellite observations to comprehensively investigate the spatial heterogeneity of hydrological cycle components in the Yarlung Zangbo River (YZR) basin for the period 1982–2014 and to determine the underlying mechanisms driving regional vegetation growth. Results showed that the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values during May–October were high, and the NDVI values increased from the upper reaches of the YZR to its lower reaches, reflecting the enhancement of vegetation growth. Annual precipitation, precipitation-actual evapotranspiration (AET), and snow water equivalent (SWE) all affect terrestrial water storage in the YZR basin through changes in soil moisture (SM), i.e., SM is the intermediate variable. Seasonal variability of vegetation is controlled mainly by precipitation, temperature, AET, SM anomaly, and SWE. Groundwater storage anomalies (GWA) and terrestrial water storage anomalies (TWSA) were not reliable indicators of vegetation growth in the YZR basin and the midstream and downstream regions. The effects of GWA and TWSA on vegetation occurred in the upstream region.

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Interactive Contribution of Indian Summer Monsoon and Western North Pacific Monsoon to Water Level and Terrestrial Water Storage in the Mekong Basin

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13173399 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (17) ◽

pp. 3399

Author(s):

Taoran Shi ◽

Hok Sum Fok ◽

Zhongtian Ma

Keyword(s):

Linear Regression ◽

Water Level ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Storage ◽

Multivariate Linear Regression ◽

Mekong River ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Mekong River Basin ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

The Impact

Water level (WL) and terrestrial water storage (TWS) are two important indicators for early alerts of hydrological extremes. Their variation is governed by precipitation under monsoon variability, in particular in the Mekong river basin, where it is affected by the interaction between the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and western North Pacific monsoon (WNPM). This study aimed to quantify the contributions of two monsoons to the water levels of four hydrological stations (i.e., My Thuan, Can Tho, Chau Doc and Tan Chau) on the Mekong Delta and the terrestrial water storage of the entire Mekong River basin through relative importance analysis. Three methods—multivariate linear regression; Lindeman, Merenda and Gold (LMG); and the proportional marginal variance decomposition (PMVD) methods—were selected to quantitatively obtain the relative influence of two monsoons on water level and TWS. The results showed that, from 2010 to 2014, the proportions of the ISM impacts on the water level obtained with the three methods ranged from 55.48 to 81.35%, 50.69 to 57.55% and 55.41 to 93.64% via multivariate linear regression, LMG and PMVD, respectively. Further analysis showed that different choices of time spans could lead to different results, indicated that the corresponding proportion would be influenced by other factors, such as El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The removal of ENSO further enlarged the relative importance of the ISM, and the mean values of the four stations were increased by 8.78%, 2.04% and 14.92%, respectively, via multivariate linear regression, LMG and PMVD. Meanwhile, based on the analysis of terrestrial water storage, it was found that the impact of the ISM on the whole Mekong River basin was dominant: the proportions of the impact of the ISM on terrestrial water storage increased to 68.79%, 54.60% and 79.43%, which rose by 11.24%, 2.96% and 19.77%, respectively, via linear regression, LMG and PMVD. The increases almost equaled the quantified proportion for the ENSO component. Overall, the novel technique of quantifying the contributions of monsoons to WL and TWS can be applied to the influence of other atmospheric factors or events on hydrological variables in different regions.

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Reconstructing Terrestrial Water Storage Variations from 1980 to 2015 in the Beishan Area of China

Geofluids ◽

10.1155/2019/3874742 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Wenjie Yin ◽

Litang Hu ◽

Shin-Chan Han ◽

Menglin Zhang ◽

Yanguo Teng

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Water Balance ◽

Water Storage ◽

Balance Method ◽

Disposal Site ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Water Balance Method ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

Beishan Area

Terrestrial water storage (TWS) is a key element in the global and continental water cycle. Since 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has provided a highly valuable dataset, which allows the study of TWS over larger river basins worldwide. However, the lifetime of GRACE is too short to demonstrate long-term variability in TWS. In the Beishan area of northwestern China, which is selected as the most prospective site for high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) disposal, the assessment of long-term TWS changes is crucial to understand disposal safety. Monthly and annual TWS changes during the past 35 years are reconstructed using GRACE data, other remote sensing products, and the water balance method. Hydrological flux outputs from multisource remote sensing products are analyzed and compared to select appropriate data sources. The results show that a decreasing trend is found for GRACE-filtered and Center for Space Research (CSR) mascon solutions from 2003 to 2015, with slopes of −2.30 ± 0.52 and −1.52 ± 0.24 mm/year, respectively. TWS variations independently computed from the water balance method also show a similar decreasing trend with the GRACE observations, with a slope of −0.94 mm/year over the same period. Overall, the TWS anomalies in the Beishan area change seasonally within 10 mm and have been decreasing since 1980, keeping a desirable dry condition as a HLRW disposal site.

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Analysis of the 2014 Wet Extreme in Bulgaria: Anomalies of Temperature, Precipitation and Terrestrial Water Storage

Hydrology ◽

10.3390/hydrology7030066 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 66

Author(s):

Biliana Mircheva ◽

Milen Tsekov ◽

Ulrich Meyer ◽

Guergana Guerova

Keyword(s):

Water Storage ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Linear Temperature ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

Long Term Trends ◽

Cross Correlations ◽

Forecasting And Warning ◽

Positive Correlations

Impact on the hydrology cycle is projected to be one of the most noticeable consequences of climate change. An increase in regional dry and wet extremes has already been observed, resulting in large socioeconomic losses. The 2014 wet conditions in Bulgaria present a valuable case study for analyzing the interaction between multiple drivers that are essential for early forecasting and warning of flood events. In this paper, time series analysis of temperature, precipitation and Terrestrial Water Storage Anomaly (TWSA) is performed and cross-correlations between observations and climate variability indices are computed for a 12-year period. In Bulgaria, a positive linear temperature trend was found with precipitation and TWSA exhibiting negative trends for the period 2003–2014. The year 2014 started with a drier and warmer than usual winter followed by five consecutive wet months from March to July. We found the following long-term variations: (1) temperature showing a local minimum in November 2014, (2) precipitation peaks in July 2014 and (3) a local TWSA maximum in December 2014. Over a 12-year period, weak to moderate negative correlations were observed between the long-term components of temperature, precipitation and TWSA. Moderate positive correlations with a 3 to 6-month lag were obtained between precipitation and TWSA long-term components. The long-term trends of temperature and precipitation from surface observations and atmospheric reanalysis showed very good alignment. Very large subseasonal precipitation residuals from observations and atmospheric reanalysis were obtained for April and September 2014. Two oscillation indices showed: (1) weak correlations with precipitation and (2) weak to moderate correlations with TWSA.

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