Download or read book Spatio-temporal Changes of Groundwater and Its Management in the Yellow River Basin, China written by Mi Lin and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The worldwide depletion of groundwater resources as detected by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites is a striking warning of the need to manage groundwater resources more sustainably. However, effective and sustainable groundwater management has proven difficult due to the complex topology of aquifers and the dynamic interactions of groundwater with other components of the socio-ecological system (e.g. surface water, human beings). A comprehensive understanding of groundwater dynamics and its main drivers at multiple scales is a prerequisite to developing targeted management strategies to cope with regional groundwater depletion. The overarching goal of my thesis is to develop scientific knowledge about the spatio-temporal changes of groundwater storage and its socio-ecological drivers to help foster new strategies for the sustainable management of groundwater resources. I used the Yellow River Basin (YRB) in northern China as a case study system because the groundwater in this basin is important for local livelihoods, and local groundwater dynamics are experiencing unanticipated spatial and temporal changes due to changes in population, climate, irrigated agriculture, and water use by different sectors. The thesis is manuscript-based and consists of five main research articles in addition to the introduction (Chapter 1) and conclusion (Chapter 7) chapters. As groundwater dynamics vary with scale, I conducted my studies mainly at the basin and provincial scales. At the basin scale, I first employed GRACE satellite data to empirically measure changes in groundwater storage in the YRB over time (2003-2016) (Chapter 2). Then I conducted time stability analysis which integrates the spatial and temporal information of groundwater storage to propose corresponding strategies for regional management (Chapter 3). Further, I applied statistical analyses to a series of socio-ecological variables collected at the basin scale, such as water use, population density, precipitation, temperature, vegetation, and irrigated area, to identify the major factors associated with changes in groundwater storage in the YRB (Chapter 4). At the provincial scale, I used water budget analysis and social investigations to explore other possible factors (e.g. management practices) that may be contributing to groundwater changes in Ningxia province (Chapter 5). Finally, I explored a way forward to improve groundwater governance in Ningxia by revealing the potential for community-based management to fill gaps in the existing water rights transfer system (Chapter 6). Overall, this transdisciplinary research has resulted in a comprehensive analysis of the groundwater status in the YRB and the drivers of groundwater changes over the past 14 years, which help to develop evidence-based suggestions for sustainable groundwater management in the YRB. The systematic research methods used, and management strategies proposed in this study can be applied in other similar arid agricultural watersheds where water management is a priority. This improved knowledge about groundwater management is critical as groundwater plays an increasingly important role in sustaining human livelihoods in the face of environmental uncertainties such as climate change"--