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Arid Land Geography ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (9): 1397-1406.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2022.629

• Climatology and Hydrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Changes and influencing factors of terrestrial water storage in China based on GRACE satellite data

SHI Zhenjun1(),ZHU Xiufang1(),TANG Yijuan2   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100875, China
    2. Institute of Remote Sensing & Mapping of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Yinchuan 750021, Ningxia, China
  • Received:2022-11-28 Revised:2023-01-28 Online:2023-09-25 Published:2023-09-28

Abstract:

Determining the spatial distribution characteristics and changes in terrestrial water storage and understanding the reasons behind these terrestrial water storage changes (TWSC) are necessary for the sustainable and comprehensive management of water resources. Based on the data of the TWSC obtained by the gravity recovery and climate experiment satellite retrieval, this study first analyzes the trend and spatiotemporal variation characteristics of the TWSC in China using the Mann-Kendall trend test and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. Subsequently, 10 influencing factors were selected to comprehensively analyze their relationship with the TWSC by employing the following three methods: geographic detector, Pearson correlation analysis, and random forest. The 10 influencing factors were temperature, precipitation, standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), area proportion of impervious layer, area proportion of water body, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), elevation, slope, gross domestic product (GDP), and population. The results showed that areas with a significant increase in terrestrial water storage were mainly distributed in the areas near the Songhua River, Nenjiang River, and Songnen Plain, and the belt of the Qaidam Basin-Yangtze River-southeast coastal region, while areas with a significant decrease in terrestrial water storage were mainly distributed in southwest China and the belt of the Xinjiang-Loess Plateau-North China Plain. From high to low latitudes, the terrestrial water storage showed an alternating change pattern of high-low-high-low. Overall, meteorological factors had the strongest explanatory power for the TWSC, followed by socioeconomic factors and geomorphologic and geologic factors. Lag-correlation analyses showed that the monthly TWSC had a time lag response to precipitation, temperature, SPEI, and NDVI. The time lag of the monthly TWSC for each factor was different in the different regions. The response of TWSC to precipitation and SPEI mainly showed one-month lag, and the response of TWSC to temperature and NDVI mainly showed no lag (i.e. 0-month lag).

Key words: terrestrial water storage change, GRACE satellite, impact analysis, time-lag effect