Groundwater Depletion in the West Liaohe River Basin, China and Its Implications Revealed by GRACE and In Situ Measurements

Remote Sensing

Wei Feng¹  Yulong Zhong¹  Yingchun Shen¹  Min Zhong¹  Dingcheng Wu¹  Zizhan Zhang¹ 

[1] State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430077, China;

关键词: groundwater storage;    terrestrial water storage;    satellite gravimetry;    GRACE;    reduced precipitation;    groundwater overexploitation;    West Liaohe River;    ENSO;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs10040493

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The West Liaohe River Basin (WLRB) is one of the most sensitive areas to climate change in China and an important grain production base in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. Groundwater depletion in this region is becoming a critical issue. Here, we used the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data and in situ well observations to estimate groundwater storage (GWS) variations and discussed the driving factors of GWS changes in the WLRB. GRACE detects a GWS decline rate of −0.92 ± 0.49 km3/yr in the WLRB during 2005–2011, consistent with the estimate from in situ observations (−0.96 ± 0.19 km3/yr). This long-term GWS depletion is attributed to reduced precipitation and extensive groundwater overexploitation in the 2000s. Long-term groundwater level observations and reconstructed total water storage variations since 1980 show favorable agreement with precipitation anomalies at interannual timescales, both of which are significantly influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Generally, the WLRB receives more/less precipitation during the El Niño/La Niña periods. One of the strongest El Niño events on record in 1997–1998 and a subsequent strong La Niña drastically transform the climate of WLRB into a decade-long drought period, and accelerate the groundwater depletion in the WLRB after 1998. This study demonstrates the significance of integrating satellite observations, ground-based measurements, and climatological data for interpreting regional GWS changes from a long-term perspective.

【 授权许可】

Unknown