Yang et al. (2026) Contrasting roles of transpiration and interception evaporation in the evolution of interannual evapotranspiration variability across the Yangtze River Basin

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-12
• Authors: Zelong Yang, Xiaomang Liu, Kaiwen Wang, Kang Liang, Changming Liu
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111417

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.

Short Summary

This study investigates the evolution of interannual evapotranspiration variability across the Yangtze River Basin, focusing on the roles of transpiration and interception evaporation. The results reveal a basin-wide intensification of interannual ET variability driven primarily by enhanced variability in vegetation transpiration.

Objective

• Investigate the temporal changes in the interannual variability of evapotranspiration (ET) and its components across the Yangtze River Basin during 1980–2023.
• Quantify the contributions of ET components to temporal changes in interannual ET variability using a novel decomposition framework.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: The study focuses on the Yangtze River Basin, a densely populated and economically vital region in China.
• Temporal Scale: The analysis covers a period of 43 years (1980–2023).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) dataset.
• Data sources: Satellite and reanalysis data.

Main Results

• Basin-wide intensification of interannual ET variability, driven primarily by enhanced variability in vegetation transpiration (Et).
• Interception evaporation (Ei) exhibits the strongest increase in interannual variability among all components but acts as a buffer that dampens interannual ET variability.
• Soil evaporation (Eb) variability decreases slightly and contributes little to changes in interannual ET variability.

Contributions

• Clarifies the ET components driving intensified interannual ET variability.
• Identifies environmental controls underlying spatial heterogeneity of temporal changes in interannual variability of different ET components.

Funding

• This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 92151106).
• The project was also supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Strategic Priority Research Program (Grant No. XDA23000000).

Citation

@article{Yang2026Contrasting,
  author = {Yang, Zelong and Liu, Xiaomang and Wang, Kaiwen and Liang, Kang and Liu, Changming},
  title = {Contrasting roles of transpiration and interception evaporation in the evolution of interannual evapotranspiration variability across the Yangtze River Basin},
  journal = {Agricultural and Forest Meteorology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111417},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111417}
}