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Groundwater is a primary freshwater resource for human consumption and an essential source for industry and agriculture. Therefore, understanding its spatial and temporal trends and drivers is crucial for governments to take appropriate measures to manage water resources. This paper uses Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) to derive groundwater storage anomalies (GWSAs) and to analyze the spatial and temporal trends of GWSA in different regions of China (Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, North China Plain, South China, and Northeast China). It used groundwater-level observation data to verify the accuracy of GWSA estimates and analyzed the drivers of regional GWSA changes. The results showed that: (1) GWSA in South China increased at a rate of 4.79 mm/a from 2003 to 2016, and GWSA in other regions in China showed a decreasing trend. Among them, the decline rates of GWSA in Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, North China Plain, and Northeast China were −6.24 mm/a, −3.33 mm/a, −3.17 mm/a, −7.35 mm/a, and −0.75 mm/a, respectively. (2) The accuracy of the annual-scale GWSA estimates was improved after deducting gravity losses due to raw coal quality, and the correlation coefficient between GWSA and groundwater levels monitored by observation wells increased. (3) In Xinjiang, the annual water consumed by raw coal mining, industrial, and agricultural activities had a greater impact on GWSA than rainfall and temperature, so these human activities might be the main drivers of the continued GWSA decline in Xinjiang. Water consumption by raw coal mining and industry might be the main drivers of the continued decline in GWSA in Inner Mongolia and the North China Plain. The increase in groundwater storage in South China was mainly due to the recharge of rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wang, P.; Zhu, Z.Q., and Fei, Y.H., 2020. The environmental early warning management of water resources carrying capacity of ski resorts in China. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 430-433. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Under the background of global warming, it has become a common choice for most ski resorts to ensure or even extend the operating period of ski resorts through artificial snow making. Many artificial snow making causes serious waste of water resources and ecological damage, which aggravates the water resources crisis in the ski resort area. Therefore, the environmental early warning management of water resources carrying capacity of ski resorts is directly related to the satisfaction of tourists and the ecological balance of tourist areas. According to the characteristics of skiing tourism resources, with the help of ecological footprint evaluation model, Northern China is selected as the evaluation object to calculate the water resources carrying capacity of skiing tourism area. Based on these, the early warning interval and grade of the environmental capacity of ski tourism resources were determined. The result showed that there were increasing trends of regional water resources ecological footprint in 2010-2019 (3.76-3.85 ha/cap), accompanied by decreasing water capacity (1.28-1.20 ha/cap), but expanding ecological deficit (2.48-2.65 ha/cap). The distribution patter of water footprint and the degree of sustainable development varied distinctly from area to area in Northern China and the lowest value of environmental early warning index (EEWI) was presented in North China in 2019. Consequently, increasing in the water resources recycling rate and reducing in human demand due to technological advances or other factors are the most effective ways to control within a reasonable range of the environmental capacity of ski tourism resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]