Quantifying the precipitation supply of China's drylands through moisture recycling
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Quantifying the precipitation supply of China's drylands through moisture recycling. / Wei, Fangli; Wang, Shuai; Fu, Bojie; Li, Yan; Huang, Yuanyuan; Zhang, Wenmin; Fensholt, Rasmus.
In: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 352, 110034, 2024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantifying the precipitation supply of China's drylands through moisture recycling
AU - Wei, Fangli
AU - Wang, Shuai
AU - Fu, Bojie
AU - Li, Yan
AU - Huang, Yuanyuan
AU - Zhang, Wenmin
AU - Fensholt, Rasmus
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Drylands have a great potential for carbon uptake, yet face a risk of water shortage. Earlier studies have suggested that vegetation restoration in drylands could lead to water loss due to increased evapotranspiration (ET). However, the role of atmospheric moisture recycling in relation between dryland vegetation and precipitation has often been ignored. Here we quantified the contribution of China's drylands to precipitation in local and downwind areas using the state-of-the-art Lagrangian moisture tracking model (UTrack) and satellite datasets. The results showed that drylands contributed 154mm yr−1 of precipitation through moisture recycling within drylands, suggesting a relative contribution and an equivalent precipitation recycling ratio (PRR) of 22%. On average, northern China received the largest precipitation from drylands moisture recycling, followed by northeastern, northwestern, southwestern, eastern, and southern China. The precipitation contribution from dryland ecosystems mainly concentrated in the growing season (132mm yr−1), accounting for 88% of the yearly contribution. Moreover, we observed that vegetation transpiration dominated the moisture effect (i.e., PT occupies 69% of total PET). During 2001-2020, the enhanced moisture recycling brought about 7mm decade−1 of precipitation within drylands, offsetting 37% of the increasing ET (19mm decade−1). This suggests an overestimation of water consumption by vegetation restoration in drylands if disregarding the contribution from vegetation-sourced moisture recycling. Overall, our study highlights the importance of atmospheric water recycling on precipitation supply in drylands, which is crucial in guiding ecological restoration projects for carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets, as well as sustainable management of water resources in water-scarce drylands.
AB - Drylands have a great potential for carbon uptake, yet face a risk of water shortage. Earlier studies have suggested that vegetation restoration in drylands could lead to water loss due to increased evapotranspiration (ET). However, the role of atmospheric moisture recycling in relation between dryland vegetation and precipitation has often been ignored. Here we quantified the contribution of China's drylands to precipitation in local and downwind areas using the state-of-the-art Lagrangian moisture tracking model (UTrack) and satellite datasets. The results showed that drylands contributed 154mm yr−1 of precipitation through moisture recycling within drylands, suggesting a relative contribution and an equivalent precipitation recycling ratio (PRR) of 22%. On average, northern China received the largest precipitation from drylands moisture recycling, followed by northeastern, northwestern, southwestern, eastern, and southern China. The precipitation contribution from dryland ecosystems mainly concentrated in the growing season (132mm yr−1), accounting for 88% of the yearly contribution. Moreover, we observed that vegetation transpiration dominated the moisture effect (i.e., PT occupies 69% of total PET). During 2001-2020, the enhanced moisture recycling brought about 7mm decade−1 of precipitation within drylands, offsetting 37% of the increasing ET (19mm decade−1). This suggests an overestimation of water consumption by vegetation restoration in drylands if disregarding the contribution from vegetation-sourced moisture recycling. Overall, our study highlights the importance of atmospheric water recycling on precipitation supply in drylands, which is crucial in guiding ecological restoration projects for carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets, as well as sustainable management of water resources in water-scarce drylands.
KW - drylands
KW - evapotranspiration
KW - land-atmosphere interactions
KW - moisture recycling
KW - moisture tracking model
U2 - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110034
DO - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110034
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85192834459
VL - 352
JO - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
JF - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
SN - 0168-1923
M1 - 110034
ER -
ID: 392657384