Impacts of Human Activities on the Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage of the Aral Sea Basin
Assessing the impacts of human activities on the variations in terrestrial water storage (TWS) is essential for water resource management, particularly in regions like the Aral Sea Basin which suffers from severe water scarcity. In this study, the variations in TWS anomalies (TWSA) of the Aral Sea B...
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MDPI AG
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/15/2923 |
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| author | Xuewen Yang Ninglian Wang Qian Liang An’an Chen Yuwei Wu |
| author_facet | Xuewen Yang Ninglian Wang Qian Liang An’an Chen Yuwei Wu |
| author_sort | Xuewen Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Assessing the impacts of human activities on the variations in terrestrial water storage (TWS) is essential for water resource management, particularly in regions like the Aral Sea Basin which suffers from severe water scarcity. In this study, the variations in TWS anomalies (TWSA) of the Aral Sea Basin during the period of April 2002 to June 2017 were analyzed using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) Noah model outputs. The impacts of human activities on TWS variations were further quantified through the variations in TWS components and the comparison of TWS obtained from GRACE and GLDAS. The results indicate that TWSA of the entire Aral Sea Basin derived from GRACE experienced a significant decreasing trend of 4.12 ± 1.79 mm/year (7.07 ± 3.07 km<sup>3</sup>/year) from 2002 to 2017. Trends in individual TWS components indicate that the reduction in TWS of the Aral Sea Basin was primarily attributed to surface water loss, followed by groundwater depletion, which account for ~53.16% and 11.65 ± 45.39 to 42.48 ± 54.61% of the total loss of TWS, respectively. Precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET) both exhibited increasing trends, indicating that ET played a dominant role in TWS depletion from the perspective of water balance. The variations in ET and TWS induced by human activities contributed ~45.54% and ~75.24% to those in total ET and TWS of the Aral Sea Basin, respectively. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:10:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b096332c27884910b5170a450cbb3c3c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:10:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-b096332c27884910b5170a450cbb3c3c2023-11-22T06:06:12ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922021-07-011315292310.3390/rs13152923Impacts of Human Activities on the Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage of the Aral Sea BasinXuewen Yang0Ninglian Wang1Qian Liang2An’an Chen3Yuwei Wu4Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, ChinaShaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, ChinaShaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, ChinaShaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, ChinaShaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, ChinaAssessing the impacts of human activities on the variations in terrestrial water storage (TWS) is essential for water resource management, particularly in regions like the Aral Sea Basin which suffers from severe water scarcity. In this study, the variations in TWS anomalies (TWSA) of the Aral Sea Basin during the period of April 2002 to June 2017 were analyzed using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) Noah model outputs. The impacts of human activities on TWS variations were further quantified through the variations in TWS components and the comparison of TWS obtained from GRACE and GLDAS. The results indicate that TWSA of the entire Aral Sea Basin derived from GRACE experienced a significant decreasing trend of 4.12 ± 1.79 mm/year (7.07 ± 3.07 km<sup>3</sup>/year) from 2002 to 2017. Trends in individual TWS components indicate that the reduction in TWS of the Aral Sea Basin was primarily attributed to surface water loss, followed by groundwater depletion, which account for ~53.16% and 11.65 ± 45.39 to 42.48 ± 54.61% of the total loss of TWS, respectively. Precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET) both exhibited increasing trends, indicating that ET played a dominant role in TWS depletion from the perspective of water balance. The variations in ET and TWS induced by human activities contributed ~45.54% and ~75.24% to those in total ET and TWS of the Aral Sea Basin, respectively.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/15/2923terrestrial water storageGRACEGLDASwater balancehuman activities |
| spellingShingle | Xuewen Yang Ninglian Wang Qian Liang An’an Chen Yuwei Wu Impacts of Human Activities on the Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage of the Aral Sea Basin Remote Sensing terrestrial water storage GRACE GLDAS water balance human activities |
| title | Impacts of Human Activities on the Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage of the Aral Sea Basin |
| title_full | Impacts of Human Activities on the Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage of the Aral Sea Basin |
| title_fullStr | Impacts of Human Activities on the Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage of the Aral Sea Basin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impacts of Human Activities on the Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage of the Aral Sea Basin |
| title_short | Impacts of Human Activities on the Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage of the Aral Sea Basin |
| title_sort | impacts of human activities on the variations in terrestrial water storage of the aral sea basin |
| topic | terrestrial water storage GRACE GLDAS water balance human activities |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/15/2923 |
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