Irrigation-induced land water depletion aggravated by climate change

Abstract Agricultural irrigation has experienced rapid expansion, and its growing freshwater consumption is potentially exacerbating water scarcity issues. Previous studies predominantly relied on observations or land-only simulations, often neglecting land–atmosphere interactions or failing to capture long-term evolution. We therefore analyse the effects of historical irrigation expansion on water fluxes and resources using seven Earth system models. Here we show that irrigation expansion in many regions substantially decreases the net water influx from the atmosphere to land, further aggravating the existing drying trends caused by climate change. For example, irrigation expansion changed the trend of this net influx from −0.664 ( ± 0.283) to −1.461 ( ± 0.261) mm yr −2 in South Asia after 1960. Consequently, the local terrestrial water storage depletion rate is substantially enlarged by irrigation expansion (for example, from −2.559 ( ± 0.094) to −16.008 ( ± 0.557) mm yr −1 ). Our results attribute the land water loss to irrigation expansion and climate change, calling for immediate solutions to tackle the negative trends.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Nature Water
Published
2025-11-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00529-1
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
5.53

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Irrigation-induced land water depletion aggravated by climate change

Yi Yao, Kjetil Schanke, Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne, Agnès Ducharne et al.
5 citations
Nature Water
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
5.53
article

Irrigation-induced land water depletion aggravated by climate change

Yi Yao, Kjetil Schanke, Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne, Agnès Ducharne, Yusuke Satoh, Tokuta Yokohata, N. Devaraju, Pedro F. Arboleda-Obando, Wim Thiery, Jeanne Colin, Anxin Ding, Petra Sieber, Steven De Hertog, David M. Lawrence, Sonali McDermid, Jonas Jägermeyr, Tian Zhou, Peter Lawrence, Bertrand Decharme, Yadu Pokhrel, Min‐Hui Lo, Lukas Gudmundsson, Maya Costantini, Lai-Yung Ruby Leung, Ren-Jie Wu, Benjamin I. Cook
article en
5 citations

Abstract

Abstract Agricultural irrigation has experienced rapid expansion, and its growing freshwater consumption is potentially exacerbating water scarcity issues. Previous studies predominantly relied on observations or land-only simulations, often neglecting land–atmosphere interactions or failing to capture long-term evolution. We therefore analyse the effects of historical irrigation expansion on water fluxes and resources using seven Earth system models. Here we show that irrigation expansion in many regions substantially decreases the net water influx from the atmosphere to land, further aggravating the existing drying trends caused by climate change. For example, irrigation expansion changed the trend of this net influx from −0.664 ( ± 0.283) to −1.461 ( ± 0.261) mm yr −2 in South Asia after 1960. Consequently, the local terrestrial water storage depletion rate is substantially enlarged by irrigation expansion (for example, from −2.559 ( ± 0.094) to −16.008 ( ± 0.557) mm yr −1 ). Our results attribute the land water loss to irrigation expansion and climate change, calling for immediate solutions to tackle the negative trends.

Nature WaterVol. 3(12)
NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), Goddard Institute for Space Studies (US), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US), Hefei University of Technology (CN), National Taiwan University (TW), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (FR), National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP), Leibniz Association (DE), Ghent University (BE), ETH Zurich (CH), Sorbonne Université (FR), Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (FR), CICERO Center for International Climate Research (NO), Milieux environnementaux, transferts et interactions dans les hydrosystèmes et les sols (FR), Météo-France (FR), CSC - IT Center for Science (Finland) (FI), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (FR), New York University (US), Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE), Columbia University (US), Michigan State University (US)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Battelle, Future of Life Institute, Vlaams Supercomputer Centrum, European Commission, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Vlaamse regering, Climate Extremes, Office of Science, Goddard Space Flight Center, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, Biological and Environmental Research, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
5.53
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.