An et al. (2026) Spatiotemporal Contributions of Advected and Recycled Moisture to Water Resource Variability in China

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Water Resources Research
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-01
• Authors: Qiang An, Liu Liu, Lixin Wang, Arie Staal, Yongming Cheng, Jing Liu, Guanhua Huang
• DOI: 10.1029/2025wr041192

Research Groups

Not specified in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study quantifies the contributions of advected and recycled moisture to precipitation and water availability variability across China and its major river basins, revealing distinct regional dependencies and synergistic effects that influence hydrological extremes and inform region-specific water management strategies.

Objective

• To quantify the contributions of advected and recycled moisture to precipitation (P) and water availability (WA) variability across China and its nine major river basins.
• To propose a novel decomposition framework to partition the variability of total P and WA into independent contributions from each moisture source and their synergistic interactions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: China and its nine major river basins.
• Temporal Scale: 2000 to 2022 (23 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Atmospheric moisture tracking; novel decomposition framework for variability partitioning.
• Data sources: Not explicitly specified, but implied from atmospheric moisture tracking (likely reanalysis or atmospheric model outputs).

Main Results

• Synergistic effects between advected and recycled moisture amplify national-scale spatial disparities but mitigate intra-basin heterogeneity in five of the nine major basins.
• At the national scale, advected moisture peaks earlier in the year than recycled moisture.
• A distinct north-south contrast exists: southern regions depend more on advected moisture, while northern regions primarily depend on recycled moisture.
• Unsynchronized peaks between advected and recycled moisture in southern basins buffer seasonal extremes, whereas synchronized peaks in northern basins intensify intra-annual variability.

Contributions

• Proposes a novel decomposition framework to quantify the independent and synergistic contributions of different moisture sources to hydrological variability.
• Provides the first quantitative assessment of the impacts of advected and recycled moisture on precipitation and water availability variability across China.
• Identifies critical north-south contrasts in moisture source dependency and their implications for seasonal and intra-annual hydrological variability.
• Underscores the need for region-specific water management strategies: climate-informed approaches for advected moisture-dependent regions and land-atmosphere feedback-aware approaches for recycled moisture-reliant areas.
• Offers a framework for addressing hydrological imbalances under changing climate and land-use patterns.

Funding

Not specified in the abstract.

Citation

@article{An2026Spatiotemporal,
  author = {An, Qiang and Liu, Liu and Wang, Lixin and Staal, Arie and Cheng, Yongming and Liu, Jing and Huang, Guanhua},
  title = {Spatiotemporal Contributions of Advected and Recycled Moisture to Water Resource Variability in China},
  journal = {Water Resources Research},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2025wr041192},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025wr041192}
}