Mon Aug 24, F. Flechtner
• Sorted by Date • Sorted by Last Name of First Author •
Ma, Yue, Wang, Longfeng, Zheng, Ziyan, Li, Wenpeng, Ma, Zhuguo, Zhao, Junjie, Zheng, Yuejun, Duan, Yawen, and Gao, Xubo, 2026. Spatiotemporal Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage and Water Scarcity Assessment Across China Based on TWSA_BTCH. Remote Sensing, 18(14):2324, doi:10.3390/rs18142324.
• from the NASA Astrophysics Data System • by the DOI System •
@ARTICLE{2026RemS...18.2324M,
author = {{Ma}, Yue and {Wang}, Longfeng and {Zheng}, Ziyan and {Li}, Wenpeng and {Ma}, Zhuguo and {Zhao}, Junjie and {Zheng}, Yuejun and {Duan}, Yawen and {Gao}, Xubo},
title = "{Spatiotemporal Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage and Water Scarcity Assessment Across China Based on TWSA\_BTCH}",
journal = {Remote Sensing},
keywords = {TWSA\_BTCH, GRACE, terrestrial water storage, spatiotemporal analysis, water scarcity, China},
year = 2026,
month = jul,
volume = {18},
number = {14},
eid = {2324},
pages = {2324},
abstract = "{What are the main findings? The TWSA across China decreased at a linear
rate of {\ensuremath{-}}1.65 mm/a during 2000--2023, with the
whole country exhibiting moderate overall water scarcity. Both
TWSA and water scarcity index show prominent north--south spatial
differentiation. This pattern reveals inherent water
supply--demand imbalances in arid and semi-arid northern China.
Latent terrestrial water storage deficit risks in the southern
SWRB cannot be overlooked. Distinct decoupling exists between
the TWSA-derived water scarcity index and long-term TWSA trends
in SRB and SWRB, revealing that water resource risks need joint
characterization via hydrological fluxes and storage. The SRB
exhibits severe water scarcity. Weak water regulation and thick
cohesive aquitards restrict infiltration recharge. Yet increased
precipitation sustains its persistent terrestrial water storage
surplus. Combined karst leakage, reservoir evaporation and a
warm--dry climate trigger latent terrestrial water storage
deficit risks in the SWRB. The TWSA across China decreased at a
linear rate of {\ensuremath{-}}1.65 mm/a during 2000--2023, with
the whole country exhibiting moderate overall water scarcity.
Both TWSA and water scarcity index show prominent north--south
spatial differentiation. This pattern reveals inherent water
supply--demand imbalances in arid and semi-arid northern China.
Latent terrestrial water storage deficit risks in the southern
SWRB cannot be overlooked. Distinct decoupling exists between
the TWSA-derived water scarcity index and long-term TWSA trends
in SRB and SWRB, revealing that water resource risks need joint
characterization via hydrological fluxes and storage. The SRB
exhibits severe water scarcity. Weak water regulation and thick
cohesive aquitards restrict infiltration recharge. Yet increased
precipitation sustains its persistent terrestrial water storage
surplus. Combined karst leakage, reservoir evaporation and a
warm--dry climate trigger latent terrestrial water storage
deficit risks in the SWRB. What is the implications of the main
findings? Conventional flux-based water scarcity assessments
assume stationary terrestrial water storage and neglect annual
dynamic fluctuations in groundwater and soil water, making it
difficult to simultaneously identify long-term terrestrial water
storage depletion risks and the natural buffering endowment of
storage-surplus regions. This study constructs an evaluation
framework coupling annual hydrological fluxes with annual TWSC,
covers water consumption across all sectors, and characterizes
long-term storage evolution based on long-term TWSA trends. The
framework enables the simultaneous diagnosis of seasonal water
scarcity and cumulative terrestrial water storage deficit, and
provides support for differentiated zoned water resource
management. Conventional flux-based water scarcity assessments
assume stationary terrestrial water storage and neglect annual
dynamic fluctuations in groundwater and soil water, making it
difficult to simultaneously identify long-term terrestrial water
storage depletion risks and the natural buffering endowment of
storage-surplus regions. This study constructs an evaluation
framework coupling annual hydrological fluxes with annual TWSC,
covers water consumption across all sectors, and characterizes
long-term storage evolution based on long-term TWSA trends. The
framework enables the simultaneous diagnosis of seasonal water
scarcity and cumulative terrestrial water storage deficit, and
provides support for differentiated zoned water resource
management. Clarifying the spatiotemporal variations of
terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) and the water scarcity
is crucial for maintaining water resources, ecosystem and food
security. This study adopts the Bayesian triple collocation
method (BTCH) method to fuse three GRACE Mascon product datasets
to generate the TWSA\_BTCH, covering the period from April 2002
to December 2023. The reliability of TWSA\_BTCH is further
verified using the water balance approach. The spatiotemporal
variations of TWSA and the water scarcity index based on
terrestrial water storage (WS$_{TWS\_based}$) at the national
and primary water resource regional level are then analyzed. The
results indicate that: (1) The spatially averaged uncertainty of
the TWSA\_BTCH over China is 8.13 mm, which is lower than those
of TWSA\_average (12.51 mm), TWSA\_CSR (23.43 mm), TWSA\_GSFC
(29.79 mm), and TWSA\_JPL (31.76 mm). (2) From 2003 to 2023, the
TWSA exhibited an overall significant declining trend with an
annual depletion rate of 1.65 mm. The national average value of
the WS$_{TWS\_based}$ index decreased from 0.32 during 2003--2012
to 0.28 over 2013--2023, which indicates that the pressure of
nationwide water scarcity has been alleviated to a certain
extent, while the whole country still faces a moderate water
shortage status. Meanwhile, the mean annual TWSA across China
during 2003--2023 was {\ensuremath{-}}10.28 mm, indicating a
nationwide terrestrial water storage deficit. (3) Regional water
resource risks require joint characterization from the dual
perspectives of hydrological fluxes and storage. Northern arid
and semi-arid regions feature inherent imbalances between water
supply and demand. The latent risks of terrestrial water storage
depletion within the SWRB cannot be ignored. In addition,
insufficient water regulation capacity in the SRB deserves
adequate attention.}",
doi = {10.3390/rs18142324},
adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026RemS...18.2324M},
adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}
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