Wang et al. (2026) Spatial reorganization and migration of moisture sink regions between wet and dry years in the Yellow River Basin

Identification

• Journal: Weather and Climate Extremes
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-08
• Authors: Yiying Wang, Chiyuan Miao, Zexi Shen, Shuai Wang
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100934

Research Groups

• State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Disaster Risk Reduction, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, China
• EPhysLab, University of Vigo, Spain
• Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona, USA

Short Summary

This study examines the spatial reorganization and migration of moisture sink regions between wet and dry years in the Yellow River Basin using a centroid-based diagnostic framework. The results reveal that mean sink precipitation is concentrated over northern China with a northeastward extension into downwind continental and oceanic regions.

Objective

• Characterize the spatial shifts of moisture sinks, including their long-term trends and contrasts between wet and dry years.
• Quantify how centroid locations and dominant transport modes differ between climatological and severely wet and dry years using EOF and correlation analyses.
• Link these variations to large-scale dynamic and thermodynamic drivers.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: The study focuses on the Yellow River Basin, a region located in northern China between 96◦and 123◦E and 32◦–42◦N.
• Temporal Scale: The study period spans from 1980 to 2023, with a focus on wet and dry years.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Water Accounting Model–2 layers (WAM2layers) driven by ERA5 reanalysis.
• Data sources: ERA5 reanalysis dataset, which provides hourly data from 1979 to the present with a spatial resolution of 0.25◦× 0.25◦.

Main Results

• Mean sink precipitation is concentrated over northern China with a northeastward extension into downwind continental and oceanic regions.
• Sink precipitation has weakened over recent decades at a rate of −0.002 mm day−1 yr−1.
• Moisture sink distributions are more concentrated during wet years, whereas dry years exhibit greater spatial dispersion (15.67◦vs. 16.30◦) and a broader downstream redistribution of sink activity.

Contributions

• This study provides new insights into the spatial reorganization and migration of moisture sink regions between wet and dry years in the Yellow River Basin.
• The results highlight the importance of large-scale dynamic and thermodynamic drivers in shaping regional hydroclimatic variability.

Funding

• National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42022018)
• Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Grant No. PID2019-106235RB-I00)

Citation

@article{Wang2026Spatial,
  author = {Wang, Yiying and Miao, Chiyuan and Shen, Zexi and Wang, Shuai},
  title = {Spatial reorganization and migration of moisture sink regions between wet and dry years in the Yellow River Basin},
  journal = {Weather and Climate Extremes},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.wace.2026.100934},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2026.100934}
}