Zheng et al. (2026) Vegetation restoration mitigates meteorological drought on the Loess Plateau

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-24
• Authors: Wende Zheng, Shangyu Shi, Komelle Askari, Fidel Roig, Xuancheng Liu, Wenzhi Liu, Fei Wang
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135012

Research Groups

• State Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control, The Research Center of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
• State Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control, College of Soil and Water Conservation Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
• Laboratorio de Dendrocronología e Historia Ambiental, IANIGLA- CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
• H´emera Centro de Observaci´on de La Tierra, Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile

Short Summary

This study quantified the net impact of large-scale vegetation restoration on meteorological drought on the Loess Plateau using a counterfactual modelling framework. It found that despite increased evapotranspiration, vegetation restoration substantially mitigated meteorological drought, primarily driven by favorable climate shifts and reinforced by vegetation structural changes.

Objective

• To quantify the net impact of large-scale vegetation restoration on meteorological drought on the Loess Plateau, balancing moisture supply (evapotranspiration, ET) and atmospheric demand (potential evapotranspiration, PET), using a counterfactual modelling framework.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Loess Plateau (LP)
• Temporal Scale: 2001–2022

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Counterfactual modelling framework comparing a "Baseline" (actual greening) scenario against a "Fixed Vegetation" (no greening) scenario. Standardized Evapotranspiration Deficit Index (SEDI). Two-step attribution analysis to quantify contributions from vegetation structure, CO2 physiology, vegetation physiology, and climate drivers.
• Data sources: Not explicitly detailed in the provided text, but implied to include data for vegetation structure, CO2 physiology, vegetation physiology, and climate drivers to support the counterfactual modelling and attribution analysis.

Main Results

• Vegetation restoration was the primary driver of a 23.2 mm decade−1 increase in evapotranspiration (ET).
• Meteorological drought was substantially mitigated, with the Baseline SEDI showing a wetting trend of 0.21 decade−1, nearly double the 0.11 decade−1 trend in the Fixed Vegetation scenario.
• At the component level, vegetation's contribution to ET (17.83 mm decade−1) was almost twice its opposing contribution to PET (9.02 mm decade−1), leading to a net reduction in the atmospheric water deficit.
• At the driver level, the wetting trend in SEDI (0.21 decade−1) was mainly driven by favourable climate shifts (0.170 decade−1, 81.4% of the net trend) and reinforced by vegetation structural changes (0.104 decade−1, 49.5%).
• These positive effects outweighed drying pressures from CO2 physiological (−26.3%) and vegetation physiological (−4.7%) effects.

Contributions

• Provides critical scientific evidence for the climate-resilience benefits of the 'Grain for Green' program.
• Offers insights for sustainable water management in other water-limited regions.
• Quantifies the net impact of vegetation restoration on meteorological drought, addressing a previously poorly quantified aspect.
• Demonstrates that human-led ecological restoration, despite increasing total water consumption, successfully alleviates atmospheric drought.

Funding

Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Zheng2026Vegetation,
  author = {Zheng, Wende and Shi, Shangyu and Askari, Komelle and Roig, Fidel and Liu, Xuancheng and Liu, Wenzhi and Wang, Fei},
  title = {Vegetation restoration mitigates meteorological drought on the Loess Plateau},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135012},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135012}
}