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Spatial and temporal characteristics of actual evapotranspiration and its influencing factors in Selin Co Basin

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Abstract

Selin Co basin, a representative lake basin situated in the central region of the Tibetan Plateau (TP), is characterized by extensive areas of frozen ground and has undergone a remarkable expansion in its lake area. Evapotranspiration, as an important variable within the lake water cycle, as well as its influencing factors are still under debate at this basin. Actual evapotranspiration (ETa) plays a vital role in influencing land-atmosphere interaction processes and the hydrological cycle. By quantifying the amount of water that is actually transpired by vegetation and evaporated from soil surfaces, ETa provides important information about the mechanisms controlling evapotranspiration. In this study, the advection-aridity (AA) model was employed to estimate ETa in Selin Co basin. The estimated ETa and its influencing factors were investigated between 2001-2018, with an emphasis on examining both spatial and temporal trends. The results demonstrated that the multiyear mean ETa in the basin was 430.3 mm (excluding lakes) with an overall significantly decreasing trend (-5.8 mm/yr). In terms of its seasonal variation, ETa exhibited highest value during summer, while experiencing comparatively lower rates in autumn and spring. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of both the annual and seasonal ETa exhibited a similar decreasing trend from the southeast to the northwest of the basin. The sensitivity of several meteorological variables to modifications in ETa was also examined. Results indicated that specific humidity was the predominant variable, followed by net radiation, air temperature, precipitation, atmospheric pressure, and wind speed. In addition, the area covered by permafrost and seasonally frozen ground was approximately about 1.58 × 104 km2 and 4.22 × 104 km2 in the basin, and permafrost degradation in the northern region of the Selin Co basin resulted in increased average soil moisture content and underground ice melting, leading to a subsequent increase in ETa.

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Data availability

Data will be made available on request from the following co-authors of this study: Shengfeng Wang (first author), 20,211,211,009@nuist.edu.cn; Lin Zhao (corresponding author), lzhao@nuist.edu.cn.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Zhibin Li and Defu Zou for their valuable contributions to the discussion. In addition, we would like to express our gratitude to all the scientists, engineers, and students who participated in the field measurements and helped maintain the observation network, enabling us to acquire the necessary data for our study.

Funding

This research has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41931180 and No. 42201141) and the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research program (No. 2019QZKK0201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

    Shengfeng Wang, Lin Zhao, Yuanwei Wang, Yan Li, LingXiao Wang & Jianting Zhao

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  1. Shengfeng Wang
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  2. Lin Zhao
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  3. Yuanwei Wang
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  4. Yan Li
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Contributions

Shengfeng Wang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing-original draft. Lin Zhao: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-review & editing. Yuanwei Wang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-review & editing. Yan Li: Methodology, Writing-review & editing. LingXiao Wang: Writing-review & editing. Jianting Zhao: Writing-review & editing.

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Correspondence to Lin Zhao.

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Wang, S., Zhao, L., Wang, Y. et al. Spatial and temporal characteristics of actual evapotranspiration and its influencing factors in Selin Co Basin. Theor Appl Climatol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-024-04977-9

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