Terrestrial ecosystems enhanced root zone water storage capacity in response to climate change over the past four decades

None, None; None, None; None, None; None, None; None, None; None, None; None, None

Terrestrial ecosystems enhanced root zone water storage capacity in response to climate change over the past four decades

Journal Article (2025)

Author(s)

Qiaojuan Xi (East China Normal University)

Hongkai Gao (East China Normal University)

Lan Wang-Erlandsson (Stockholm University, Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung)

Jianzhi Dong (Tianjin University)

Fabrizio Fenicia (Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology)

Huub Savenije (TU Delft - Water Resources)

Markus Hrachowitz (TU Delft - Surface and Groundwater Hydrology)

Research Group

Water Resources

DOI related publication

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2025.06.027

Climate change Resilience Trend analysis Mass curve technique Root zone water storage capacity

To reference this document use:

https://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4a88b2f4-cf3b-400f-8844-93992a68cbb8

More Info

expand_more

Publication Year

2025

Language

English

Research Group

Water Resources

Bibliographical Note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository as part of the Taverne amendment. More information about this copyright law amendment can be found at https://www.openaccess.nl. Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public. @en

Issue number

18

Volume number

70

Pages (from-to)

3019-3028

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Abstract

Adaptation of ecosystems’ root zones to climate change critically affects drought resilience and vegetation productivity. However, a global quantitative assessment of this mechanism is missing. In this study, we analyzed high-quality observation-based data to find that the global average root zone water storage capacity (S_R) increased by 11%, from 182 to 202 mm in 1982–2020. The total increase of S_R equals to 1652 billion m³ over the past four decades. S_R increased in 9 out of 12 land cover types, while three relatively dry types experienced decreasing trends, potentially suggesting the crossing of ecosystems’ tipping points. Our results underscore the importance of accounting for root zone dynamics under climate change to assess drought impacts.

Files

1-s2.0-S209592732500653X-main-... (pdf)

(pdf | 3.42 Mb)

License info not available

File under embargo until 21-12-2025