Impacts of agriculture and snow dynamics on catchment water balance in the U.S. and Great Britain

The Budyko water balance is a fundamental concept in hydrology that links aridity to how precipitation is divided between evapotranspiration and streamflow. While the model is powerful, its ability to explain temporal changes and the influence of human activities and climate change is limited. Here...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications earth & environment 2024-11, Vol.5 (1), p.733-14, Article 733
Main Authors: Zaerpour, Masoud, Hatami, Shadi, Ballarin, André S., Knoben, Wouter J. M., Papalexiou, Simon Michael, Pietroniro, Alain, Clark, Martyn P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/106/242
704/242
Agricultural land
Algorithms
Anthropocene
Aridity
Catchments
Climate change
Deviation
Dynamics
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Environment
Evapotranspiration
Human performance
Hydrology
Irrigation
Irrigation water
Precipitation
Snow
Stream discharge
Stream flow
Water balance
Water management
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Summary:The Budyko water balance is a fundamental concept in hydrology that links aridity to how precipitation is divided between evapotranspiration and streamflow. While the model is powerful, its ability to explain temporal changes and the influence of human activities and climate change is limited. Here we introduce a causal discovery algorithm to explore deviations from the Budyko water balance, attributing them to human interventions such as agricultural activities and snow dynamics. Our analysis of 1342 catchments across the U.S. and Great Britain reveals distinct patterns: in the U.S., snow fraction and irrigation alter the Budyko water balance predominantly through changes in aridity-streamflow relationships, while in Great Britain, deviations are primarily driven by changes in precipitation-streamflow relationships, notable in catchments with high cropland percentage. By integrating causal analysis with the Budyko water balance, we enhance understanding of how human activities and climate dynamics affect water balance, offering insights for water management and sustainability in the Anthropocene. The U.S. Budyko water balance is influenced by snow fraction and irrigation, driving changes in aridity-streamflow dynamics, while deviations in Great Britain are driven by precipitation-streamflow dynamics, according to an analysis of 1,342 catchments.
ISSN:2662-4435
2662-4435
DOI:10.1038/s43247-024-01891-w