Satellite-based analysis of evapotranspiration and water balance in the grassland ecosystems of Dryland East Asia

Jiangzhou Xia; Shunlin Liang; Jiquan Chen; Wenping Yuan; Shuguang Liu; Linghao Li; Wenwen Cai; Li Zhang; Yang Fu; Tianbao Zhao; Jinming Feng; Zhuguo Ma; Mingguo Ma; Shaomin Liu; Guangsheng Zhou; Jun Asanuma; Shiping Chen; Mingyuan Du; Gombo Davaa; Tomomichi Kato; Qiang Liu; Suhong Liu; Shenggong Li; Changliang Shao; Yanhong Tang; Xiang Zhao

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097295

Satellite-based analysis of evapotranspiration and water balance in the grassland ecosystems of Dryland East Asia

PLoS One. 2014 May 20;9(5):e97295. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097295. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Jiangzhou Xia¹, Shunlin Liang², Jiquan Chen³, Wenping Yuan⁴, Shuguang Liu⁵, Linghao Li⁶, Wenwen Cai⁴, Li Zhang⁷, Yang Fu⁴, Tianbao Zhao⁸, Jinming Feng⁹, Zhuguo Ma⁸, Mingguo Ma¹⁰, Shaomin Liu¹¹, Guangsheng Zhou¹², Jun Asanuma¹³, Shiping Chen⁶, Mingyuan Du¹⁴, Gombo Davaa¹⁵, Tomomichi Kato¹⁶, Qiang Liu¹, Suhong Liu¹¹, Shenggong Li¹⁷, Changliang Shao⁶, Yanhong Tang¹⁸, Xiang Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academic of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academic of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
³ International Center for Ecology, Meteorology and Environment (IceMe), School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
⁵ State Engineering Laboratory of Southern Forestry Applied Ecology and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, Hunan, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment Research for Temperate East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁹ College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment Research for Temperate East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
¹⁰ Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
¹¹ State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academic of Sciences, Beijing, China; School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
¹² State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China.
¹³ Center for Research in Isotopes and Environmental Dynamics, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
¹⁴ Department of Agro-Meteorology, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
¹⁵ Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Juulchin, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
¹⁶ Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
¹⁷ Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
¹⁸ Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

Abstract

The regression tree method is used to upscale evapotranspiration (ET) measurements at eddy-covariance (EC) towers to the grassland ecosystems over the Dryland East Asia (DEA). The regression tree model was driven by satellite and meteorology datasets, and explained 82% and 76% of the variations of ET observations in the calibration and validation datasets, respectively. The annual ET estimates ranged from 222.6 to 269.1 mm yr(-1) over the DEA region with an average of 245.8 mm yr(-1) from 1982 through 2009. Ecosystem ET showed decreased trends over 61% of the DEA region during this period, especially in most regions of Mongolia and eastern Inner Mongolia due to decreased precipitation. The increased ET occurred primarily in the western and southern DEA region. Over the entire study area, water balance (the difference between precipitation and ecosystem ET) decreased substantially during the summer and growing season. Precipitation reduction was an important cause for the severe water deficits. The drying trend occurring in the grassland ecosystems of the DEA region can exert profound impacts on a variety of terrestrial ecosystem processes and functions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

China
Grassland*
Mongolia
Seasons*
Spacecraft*

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National High-Technology Research and Development Program of China (2013AA122800), the Freedom Project (No. SKLCS-ZZ-2013-2-2) of the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation for Excellent Young Scholars of China (41322005), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0060) and NASA-NEWS Program (NN-H-04-Z-YS-005-N). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.