Three-dimensional Budyko framework incorporating terrestrial water storage: Unraveling water-energy dynamics, vegetation, and ocean-atmosphere interactions

Qing He; Hok Sum Fok; Vagner Ferreira; Robert Tenzer; Zhongtian Ma; Hao Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166380

Three-dimensional Budyko framework incorporating terrestrial water storage: Unraveling water-energy dynamics, vegetation, and ocean-atmosphere interactions

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 15:904:166380. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166380. Epub 2023 Aug 16.

Authors

Qing He¹, Hok Sum Fok², Vagner Ferreira³, Robert Tenzer⁴, Zhongtian Ma⁵, Hao Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory of Fundamental Physical Quantities Measurement & Hubei Key Laboratory of Gravitation and Quantum Physics, PGMF and School of Physics, Institute of Geophysics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
² MOE Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment and Geodesy and MNR Key Laboratory of Geophysical Geodesy, School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; Hubei Luojia Laboratory, Wuhan, China. Electronic address: xshhuo@sgg.whu.edu.cn.
³ School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
⁴ Department of Land Surveying and Geo-informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
⁵ MOE Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment and Geodesy and MNR Key Laboratory of Geophysical Geodesy, School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; Department of Land Surveying and Geo-informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.

PMID: 37595904
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166380

Abstract

The two-dimensional steady-state Budyko framework, widely used to study water-energy dynamics in landscapes, primarily focused on the partitioning of precipitation into evapotranspiration (ET) and water yield. Though this framework has been extended by incorporating water storage changes into precipitation input for non-steady state conditions, the interactions among water-energy dynamics, vegetation covers, and ocean-atmosphere oscillations within the Budyko framework at finer spatial and temporal scales have been unexplored. This study aims to investigate the interactions of regional hydroclimatic conditions, vegetation, and climate teleconnections over the Indo-China Peninsula (ICP), a region highly vulnerable to climate change. To achieve the objective, we propose a three-dimensional Budyko framework that incorporates the ratio of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)-based terrestrial water storage (TWS) or its changes (TWSC) to precipitation (SI/SCI) as the third dimension alongside the traditional two-dimensional Budyko framework. Our findings reveal that TWS has a significant impact on the Budyko framework, particularly during the dry season. The dryness index (DI)/evaporative index (EI) and SI/SCI exhibit positive (strongly negative) linear relationships in the wet (dry) season, respectively. Vegetation covers strongly influence the three-dimensional Budyko framework, with poor performance observed in highly vegetated regions due to high ET demand. Through relative importance analysis, we identify the Silk Road Pattern (SRP) as the most influential climate teleconnection among nine different teleconnections, affecting hydroclimatic conditions over the ICP. Positive (negative) phases of SRP encourage water-limited (energy-limited) ET conditions. This demonstrates that the Budyko parameter is influenced not only by landscapes but also by climate teleconnections, offering potential benefits for Budyko parameter estimation. Furthermore, the linear relationships between DI/EI and SI/SCI in three-dimensional Budyko framework can provide a promising alternative method for evapotranspiration and groundwater estimation.

Keywords: Indo-China peninsula; Ocean-atmosphere teleconnections; Terrestrial water storage; Three-dimensional Budyko framework.