Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Agricultural irrigation has experienced rapid expansion, and its growing freshwater consumption is potentially exacerbating water scarcity issues. Previous studies predominantly relied on observations or land-only simulations, often neglecting land–atmosphere interactions or failing to capture long-term evolution. We therefore analyse the effects of historical irrigation expansion on water fluxes and resources using seven Earth system models. Here we show that irrigation expansion in many regions substantially decreases the net water influx from the atmosphere to land, further aggravating the existing drying trends caused by climate change. For example, irrigation expansion changed the trend of this net influx from −0.664 ( ± 0.283) to −1.461 ( ± 0.261) mm yr −2 in South Asia after 1960. Consequently, the local terrestrial water storage depletion rate is substantially enlarged by irrigation expansion (for example, from −2.559 ( ± 0.094) to −16.008 ( ± 0.557) mm yr −1 ). Our results attribute the land water loss to irrigation expansion and climate change, calling for immediate solutions to tackle the negative trends.
Source: Nature Water
Authors: Yi Yao, Wim Thiery, Agnès Ducharne, Benjamin I. Cook, Anxin Ding, Steven J. De Hertog, Petra Sieber, Kjetil Schanke Aas, Pedro F. Arboleda-Obando, Jeanne Colin, Maya Costantini, Bertrand Decharme, David M. Lawrence, Peter Lawrence, L. Ruby Leung, Min-Hui Lo, Narayanappa Devaraju, Ren-Jie Wu, Tian Zhou, Jonas Jägermeyr, Sonali Shukla McDermid, Yadu Pokhrel, Yusuke Satoh, Tokuta Yokohata, Lukas Gudmundsson, Sonia I. Seneviratne
Institutions: ETH Zurich, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Sorbonne Université, Milieux environnementaux, transferts et interactions dans les hydrosystèmes et les sols, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Hefei University of Technology, Ghent University, Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, Météo-France, Université de Toulouse, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, National Taiwan University, CSC - IT Center for Science (Finland), Leibniz Association, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Columbia University, New York University, Michigan State University, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, National Institute for Environmental Studies
Language: English
Subfield: Water Science and Technology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $12,690
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Battelle, Future of Life Institute, Vlaams Supercomputer Centrum, European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Vlaamse regering, Climate Extremes, Office of Science, Goddard Space Flight Center, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, Biological and Environmental Research, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Awards: G1202769797, G125460123, G138090931, G174550695, G1899721271, G2506945562, G2510423872, G2820049545, G2988778103, G391136020, G5321382714, G5373841109, G5653134238, G5726405315, G5780031479, CAS-Climate: To Irrigate or Not? Assessing Climate Change Adaptation for Sustainable Water-Agriculture Systems in the Mississippi River Basin, Biosphere and Land Use Exchanges with Groundwater and soils in Earth system Models, G7522716970, G7560550554, G7806135606, G821644656, Research on the impact of irrigation and groundwater pumping on regional climate using an improved earth system model, Belmont Forum Collaborative Research: Biosphere and Land Use Exchanges with Groundwater and soils in Earth system Models (BLUEGEM)
OpenAlex ID: W4415913533