Abstract
Actual evapotranspiration (AE) is a crucial processes in terrestrial ecosystems. Global warming is expected to increase AE; however, various AE estimation methods or models give inconsistent trends. This study analyzed AE variability in China during 1982–2015 based on the Budyko framework (AE_Budyko), a complementary-relationship-based product (AE_CR), and the weighted average of six reanalyses (AE_WAR). Because the response of AE to driving factors and the performances of AE datasets are both scale-dependent, China has been categorized into six distinct climatic areas. From a regional perspective, the X-12-ARIMA method was used to decompose monthly AE into the trend, seasonal, and irregular components. We examined the main characteristics of these components and the relationships of climate factors with AE. The results indicate that the trend component of AE increased from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s and more recently in the hyper-arid and arid areas. Increasing AE was observed from 1982 to the early 1990s in the semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. AE increased significantly and had substantial interannual variability for the entire period in the sub-humid and humid areas. Increased precipitation and water supply from terrestrial water storage contributed significantly to increasing AE in the drylands. The simultaneous occurrence of increasing precipitation and wet-day frequency caused increasing AE in the dry sub-humid area. Increased AE could be explained by the increased energy supply and precipitation in the sub-humid and humid areas. Precipitation had the strongest influence on the irregular component of AE in drylands. AE and potential evapotranspiration had a strong positive correlation in the sub-humid and humid areas. Regarding data availability, a discrepancy existed in the trend component of AE_CR because soil moisture was not explicitly considered, whereas the irregular component of AE_Budyko contained distinct variations in humid and sub-humid areas.
Highlights
Actual evapotranspiration (AE) is the process by which the Earth’s surface water enters the atmosphere through evaporation or evapotranspiration [1]
We differentiated the climatic areas in China and performed an attribution analysis on AE for each area
According to the aridity index, China was divided into six climatic areas
Summary
Actual evapotranspiration (AE) is the process by which the Earth’s surface water enters the atmosphere through evaporation or evapotranspiration [1]. Land AE plays an essential role in hydrology and climate change, as it links the water and energy cycles [1, 2] and affects water-energy balances significantly. AE accounts for about 60% of the Earth’s total land rainfall [3]. A drop in evaporative cooling generally causes higher surface air temperature [4]. Global warming is expected to increase AE rates, further accelerating warming via water vapor feedback, since water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas [5]. It should be noted that, AE is influenced by both local and global factors [1, 6]. The response of AE to global warming, if fully realized, can vary regionally across a continent [7]
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