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 -