Arid Zone Research ›› 2022, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (3): 787-800.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2022.03.12

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Evaluation of groundwater resource sustainability based on GRACE and GLDAS in arid region of Northwest China

RUAN Yongjian1,2(),WU Xiuqin1,2()   

  1. 1. College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China 2. Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
    2. Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
  • Received:2021-07-09 Revised:2021-09-05 Online:2022-05-15 Published:2022-05-30
  • Contact: Xiuqin WU E-mail:18257613748@163.com;wuxq@bjfu.edu.cn

Abstract:

The arid region of Northwest China is a groundwater-dependent ecosystem. Groundwater resources are a strategic support for developing the arid region in Northwest China. It is important to understand the significance of groundwater changes in real time to reveal change characteristics of groundwater and regional economic development. Previously, traditional groundwater monitoring research was artificial and expensive and large-scale and long-term analyses were difficult. Research based on satellite information also lacks quantitative evaluations of groundwater sustainability. To explore recent groundwater sustainability in arid areas of Northwest China, GRACE gravity satellite and GLDAS data were used to invert groundwater storage changes and determine trend changes for 200 months from April 2002 to September 2020 in arid areas of Northwest China. The groundwater drought index, which is based on GRACE, was calculated to obtain the groundwater drought situation in the arid region of Northwest China. Finally, the GGDI was further combined with the sustainability index to quantify the reliability, resilience, and vulnerability of groundwater to evaluate the recent groundwater sustainability in the arid region of Northwest China. Results show that from 2002 to 2020, groundwater reserves were greatly reduced in the arid area of Northwest China, and the drought degree of groundwater has deepened. The average reliability, resilience, and vulnerability of groundwater is 0.495, 0.470, and 0.404, respectively, and the regional groundwater sustainability index (SI) is 0.28, which indicates a low groundwater sustainability level. This study reveals a temporal and spatial distribution and the evolution trend of groundwater sustainability in arid regions of Northwest China, which provides theoretical and supporting data for the protection and management of regional groundwater resources.

Key words: arid region of Northwest China, gravity satellite, groundwater drought index, groundwater resources, sustainability