Evapotranspiration Trend and Its Relationship with Precipitation over the Loess Plateau during the Last Three Decades

Abstract EN

There have been few studies conducted on the changes in actual ET over the Loess Plateau, due to the lack of reliable ET data.

Based on ET data simulated by the Community Land Model, the present study analyzed the changes in ET over the Loess Plateau.

The results showed the domain-average ET to have decreased in the past 31 years, at a rate of 0.78 mm year−1.

ET fluctuated much more strongly in the 1990s than in the 1980s and 2000s, and, apart from in autumn, ET decreased in all seasons.

In particular, ET in summer comprised about half of the annual ET trend and had the sharpest trend, dominating the interannual decline.

ET also decreased more sharply in the semiarid than semihumid regions.

The declining trend of ET was attributed to declining precipitation and air humidity.

Locally, the ET trend was closely related to local mean annual precipitation: in areas with precipitation less than 400 mm, ET showed a decreasing trend; in areas with precipitation larger than 600 mm, ET showed an increasing trend; and in areas with precipitation in the range of 400–600 mm could be classified as a transitional zone.