Abstract
Over the past four decades, land use/land cover (LU/LC) change, coupled with persistent drought, has resulted in the decline of groundwater levels in Horqin Sandy Land. Accordingly, this study quantifies changes in LU/LC and groundwater storage (GWS). Furthermore, it investigates the effects of LU/LC changes on GWS. GWS changes are estimated using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data and ground-based measurements obtained from July 2003 to December 2010. Soil moisture and snow water equivalent data derived from the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) are used to isolate GWS changes from GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage changes. The result shows that the groundwater depletion rate in Horqin Sandy Land is 13.5 ± 1.9 mm·year−1 in 2003–2010, which is consistent with the results of monitoring well stations. LU/LC changes are detected using bitemporal imageries (2003 and 2010) from Landsat Thematic Mapper through the post-classification comparison method. The result shows that LU/LC significantly changed during the aforementioned period. Bare soil and built-up land have increased by 76.6% and 82.2%, respectively, while cropland, vegetation, and water bodies have decreased by 14.1%, 74.5%, and 82.6%, respectively. The analysis of GWS and LU/LC changes shows that LU/LC changes and persistent drought are the main factors that affect groundwater resources.
Highlights
Water crisis ranked third among 10 global risks of highest concern in 2015, according to the annual Global Risks Perception Survey of the World Economic Forum
The main reason for such difference is that Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data can capture all the changes in mass, including changes that cannot be estimated using the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) hydrological models (HMs) [61]
The point-to-regional-scale analysis and the various approaches used in this study, including groundwater storage (GWS) estimation based on GRACE, Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS), and monitoring well data as well as land use/land cover (LU/LC) CD based on bitemporal Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imageries, complemented one another efficiently to develop a general understanding of the effect of LU/LC changes on GWS
Summary
Water crisis ranked third among 10 global risks of highest concern in 2015, according to the annual Global Risks Perception Survey of the World Economic Forum. As a crucial source of freshwater worldwide, groundwater is extensively used in drinking water supply, agricultural irrigation, aquaculture, and industrial manufacture [1,2]. Overexploitation or persistent depletion of groundwater occurs if its abstraction exceeds its natural recharge rate over extensive areas for a long period [3,4]. This situation has led to water stress in several parts of the world, including South Africa, central and western U.S, Australia, India, Pakistan, and North China [1,3,5,6,7,8,9]. Groundwater depletion poses a serious threat to the water supply of local residents because it can lead to soil salinization and land subsidence; it can restrict the social development and economic growth of the affected regions
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