Trend of China land water storage redistribution at medi- and large-spatial scales in recent five years by satellite gravity observations

Abstract

The GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite gravity mission has provided a new method to study land water mass redistribution at medi- and long-spatial scales in recent years. We estimate continental water mass redistribution in China using GRACE observations during 2003 to 2007. The results show some large regions with increase or decrease of land water mass storage in the central northern region, Tibetan Plateau, the Three Gorges region, the place where Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces meet, and the Altun Mountains region in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In the first two regions, it is obvious that water (ice) mass storages are decreasing. Water mass in the central northern region decreases at a linear rate of 2.4 cm/a equivalent water height, equal to 5.2 billion cubic meters per year during the five years’ period, and water mass depletion in Hebei Province is ∼ 4.5 billion cubic meters per year in the same period, which is consistent with the average water mass depletion of 4.0 billion cubic meters per year of overused underground water in the recent 30 years estimated by Hebei Province Water Resources Bureau. Furthermore, GRACE can detect the water mass accumulation of ∼ 5 cm equivalent water height within the region spreading over about 0.12 million square kilometers due to the Three Gorges dam construction in June 2003. We also find a water mass gain of ∼ 1.1 cm/a in the areas where Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces meet. This indicates that the climate of these regions has been becoming gradually humid in recent years.