Tang et al. (2025) Global change exacerbates water cycle imbalances and intensifies water resource crises

Identification

• Journal: Science China Earth Sciences
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-08-19
• Authors: Qiuhong Tang, Deliang Chen
• DOI: 10.1007/s11430-025-1661-5

Research Groups

• Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
• Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Short Summary

This News Focus article synthesizes recent scientific literature to highlight how global change exacerbates water cycle imbalances and intensifies water resource crises, underscoring the urgent need for integrated management.

Objective

• To synthesize and highlight the critical impacts of global change on the water cycle and water resources, emphasizing the intensification of imbalances and crises based on recent scientific findings.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global (synthesis of studies covering various global and regional contexts).
• Temporal Scale: Contemporary and projected changes (synthesis of recent research, primarily from 2021-2025, addressing ongoing and future impacts of global change).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: This article is a "News Focus" and does not present new primary data or model results. Instead, it synthesizes findings from a broad range of existing scientific literature, which likely utilized various climate, hydrological, and Earth system models.
• Data sources: This article relies on published research, drawing upon findings from studies that used diverse data sources including satellite observations, in-situ measurements, reanalysis products, and model outputs.

Main Results

• The article synthesizes evidence demonstrating that global change is intensifying imbalances within the terrestrial water cycle.
• These intensified imbalances are leading to exacerbated water resource crises across various regions globally.
• The synthesis underscores the urgency of addressing these challenges through integrated water resource management strategies.

Contributions

• Provides a timely and concise synthesis of the current understanding of how global change impacts the water cycle and water resources.
• Highlights the critical and intensifying nature of water cycle imbalances and resource crises for a broad scientific audience.
• Serves as a high-level overview of recent scientific advancements and challenges in global change hydrology.

Funding

• National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U2243226)
• Third Xinjiang Comprehensive Scientific Expedition Project (Grant No. 2021xjkk0800)
• Tsinghua University Project (Grant No. 100008001)

Citation

@article{Tang2025Global,
  author = {Tang, Qiuhong and Chen, Deliang},
  title = {Global change exacerbates water cycle imbalances and intensifies water resource crises},
  journal = {Science China Earth Sciences},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1007/s11430-025-1661-5},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-025-1661-5}
}