How human activities affect groundwater storage?

Yang's team from Northeast Agricultural University has proposed using carbon emissions as a bridge to investigate the impact of human activities on groundwater storage. They have explored the connection between human activities and groundwater storage, and have described the impact of human activities on groundwater storage from both temporal and spatial perspectives.

The study was published (April. 12) in Research, the first Science Partner Journal recently launched by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in collaboration with the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).

While numerous studies have confirmed the significant impact of human activities on groundwater storage, the majority have primarily focused on agriculture and industry, with limited quantitative analysis and comparison of the effects of various human activities on groundwater storage. Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have been extensively utilized across various facets of human society. Therefore, in order to comprehensively explore the impact of various human activities on groundwater storage on a unified measurement basis, Yang and her team have adopted carbon emissions from various sectors as an indicator of the intensity of human activities to address this challenge.

The findings of this study reveal a close correlation between human activities and groundwater storage, particularly evident in emissions from sectors such as the energy industry, chemical processes, and petroleum processing, which show a significant negative correlation with groundwater storage. Temporal analysis results suggest that the impact of carbon emissions from aviation and agriculture on groundwater storage can persist for extended periods, up to seven years. Spatial analysis results indicate that economically developed regions are more favorable for groundwater storage.