Impact and consequences of evapotranspiration changes on water resources availability in the arid Zhangye Basin, China

Evapotranspiration (ET) plays an important role in the hydrological cycle and it is essential to estimate ET accurately for the evaluation of available water resources. This is most important in arid and semi-arid regions. In this paper, the long-term changes in daily ET in the semi-arid Zhangye Basin in northwest China and its impact factors were studied. The spatial distribution of ET was assessed by using the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS). Cloud-free National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Advanced (NOAA) Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) September images over the Zhangye Basin from 1990 to 2004 were used in combination with SEBS to estimate ET at a spatial resolution of 1.1 km. This daily ET was converted to a monthly ET (for September) using daily pan evaporation values from a meteorological station in the study area. Spatial aggregation of all pixels yielded the total monthly ET for the whole study area. Subsequently, the monthly ET was extrapolated to annual ET values using the pan evaporation data. The results were validated with ground-based measurements on the water balance for the whole Zhangye Basin. The annual ET increased gradually from 23.7×108 m3 in 1990 to 26.9×108 m3 in 2004 for the Zhangye Basin. The main cause appeared to be change in vegetation.