Spatio-temporal variation of depth to groundwater level and its driving factors in arid and semi-arid regions of India

Climate change and increasing anthropogenic activities,such as over-exploitation of groundwater,are exerting unavoidable stress on groundwater resources.This study investigated the spatio-temporal variation of depth to groundwater level(DGWL)and the impacts of climatic(precipitation,maximum temperature,and minimum temperature)and anthropogenic(gross district product(GDP),population,and net irrigated area(NIA))variables on DGWL during 1994-2020.The study considered DGWL in 113 observation wells and piezometers located in arid western plains(Barmer and Jodhpur districts)and semi-arid eastern plains(Jaipur,Ajmer,Dausa,and Tonk districts)of Rajasthan State,India.Statistical methods were employed to examine the annual and seasonal patterns of DGWL,and the generalized additive model(GAM)was used to determine the impacts of climatic and anthropogenic variables on DGWL.During 1994-2020,except for Barmer District,where the mean annual DGWL was almost constant(around 26.50 m),all other districts exhibited increase in DGWL,with Ajmer District experiencing the most increase.The results also revealed that 36 observation wells and piezometers showed a statistically significant annual increasing trend in DGWL and 34 observation wells and piezometers exhibited a statistically significant decreasing trend in DGWL.Similarly,32 observation wells and piezometers showed an statistically significant increasing trend and 37 observation wells and piezometers showed a statistically significant decreasing trend in winter;33 observation wells and piezometers indicated a statistically significant increasing trend and 34 had a statistically significant decreasing trend in post-monsoon;35 observation wells and piezometers exhibited a statistically significant increasing trend and 32 observation wells and piezometers showed a statistically significant decreasing trend in pre-monsoon;and 36 observation wells and piezometers reflected a statistically significant increasing trend and 30 observation wells and piezometers reflected a statistically significant decreasing trend in monsoon.Interestingly,most of the observation wells and piezometers with increasing trends of DGWL were located in Dausa and Jaipur districts.Furthermore,the GAM analysis revealed that climatic variables,such as precipitation,significantly affected DGWL in Barmer District,and DGWL in all other districts was influenced by anthropogenic variables,including GDP,NIA,and population.As a result,stringent regulations should be implemented to curb excessive groundwater extraction,manage agricultural water demand,initiate proactive aquifer recharge programs,and strengthen sustainable management in these water-scarce regions.

Numerical Study of Impacts of Soil Moisture on the Diurnal and Seasonal Cycles of Sensible/Latent Heat Fluxes over Semi-arid Region

The semi-arid regions, as climatic and ecosystem transitional zones, are the most vulnerable to global environmental change. Earlier researches indicate that the semi-arid regions are characterized by strong landatmosphere coupling in which soil moisture is the crucial variable in land surface processes. In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity of the sensible/latent heat fluxes to soil moisture during the growing season based on the enhanced observations at Tongyu in the Jilin province of China, a reference site of international Coordinated Energy and Water Cycle Observations Project （CEOP） in the semi-arid regions, by using a sophisticated land surface model （NCAR_CLM3.0）. Comparisons between the observed and simulated sensible/latent heat fluxes indicate that the soil moisture has obvious effects on the sensible/latent heat fluxes in terms of diurnal cycle and seasonal evolution. Better representation of the soil moisture could improve the model performance to a large degree. Therefore, for the purpose of simulating the land-atmosphere interaction and predicting the climate and water resource changes in semi-arid regions, it is necessary to enhance the description of the soil moisture distribution both in the way of observation and its treatment in land surface models.

Can climate change influence agricultural GTFP in arid and semi-arid regions of Northwest China?

There are eight provinces and autonomous regions(Gansu Province,Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region,Tibet Autonomous Region,Qinghai Province,Shanxi Province,and Shaanxi Province)in Northwest China,most areas of which are located in arid and semi-arid regions(northwest of the 400 mm precipitation line),accounting for 58.74%of the country's land area and sustaining approximately 7.84×10^6 people.Because of drought conditions and fragile ecology,these regions cannot develop agriculture at the expense of the environment.Given the challenges of global warming,the green total factor productivity(GTFP),taking CO2 emissions as an undesirable output,is an effective index for measuring the sustainability of agricultural development.Agricultural GTFP can be influenced by both internal production factors(labor force,machinery,land,agricultural plastic film,diesel,pesticide,and fertilizer)and external climate factors(temperature,precipitation,and sunshine duration).In this study,we used the Super-slacks-based measure(Super-SBM)model to measure agricultural GTFP during the period 2000-2016 at the regional level.Our results show that the average agricultural GTFP of most provinces and autonomous regions in arid and semi-arid regions underwent a fluctuating increase during the study period(2000-2016),and the fluctuation was caused by the production factors(input and output factors).To improve agricultural GTFP,Shaanxi,Shanxi,and Gansu should reduce agricultural labor force input;Shaanxi,Inner Mongolia,Gansu,and Shanxi should decrease machinery input;Shaanxi,Inner Mongolia,Xinjiang,and Shanxi should reduce fertilizer input;Shaanxi,Xinjiang,Gansu,and Ningxia should reduce diesel input;Xinjiang and Gansu should decrease plastic film input;and Gansu,Shanxi,and Inner Mongolia should cut pesticide input.Desirable output agricultural earnings should be increased in Qinghai and Tibet,and undesirable output(CO2 emissions)should be reduced in Inner Mongolia,Xinjiang,Gansu,and Shaanxi.Agricultural GTFP is influenced not only by internal production factors but also by external climate factors.To determine the influence of climate factors on GTFP in these provinces and autonomous regions,we used a Geographical Detector(Geodetector)model to analyze the influence of climate factors(temperature,precipitation,and sunshine duration)and identify the relationships between different climate factors and GTFP.We found that temperature played a significant role in the spatial heterogeneity of GTFP among provinces and autonomous regions in arid and semi-arid regions.For Xinjiang,Inner Mongolia,and Tibet,a suitable average annual temperature would be in the range of 7℃-9℃;for Gansu,Shanxi,and Ningxia,it would be 11℃-13℃;and for Shaanxi,it would be 15℃-17℃.Stable climatic conditions and more efficient production are prerequisites for the development of sustainable agriculture.Hence,in the agricultural production process,reducing the redundancy of input factors is the best way to reduce CO2 emissions and to maintain temperatures,thereby improving the agricultural GTFP.The significance of this study is that it explores the impact of both internal production factors and external climatic factors on the development of sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions,identifying an effective way forward for the arid and semi-arid regions of Northwest China.

Emergy-based study on eco-economic system of arid and semi-arid region:a case of Gansu province,China

Taking Gansu province as a model case,this study provides an integrated analysis on the eco-economic system of arid and semi-arid region based on emergy synthesis theory. Through calculating the values of renewable emergy flow,non-renewable resources,imported emergy,exported emergy,waste emergy,and total emergy during the period of 1978-2007,the performance of Gansu eco-economic system was analyzed. The results indicated that the renewable emergy flow within the province basically remained steady state which was estimated at 2.99×1022 solar emjoules (sej) from 1978 to 2007. The imported emergy and exported emergy were estimated at 3.75×1017 sej and 2.99×1020 sej in 1978 and increased to 1.07×1022 sej and 1.44×1022 sej respectively in 2007. The nonrenewable emergy flow was estimated at 1.62×1022 sej and increased to 1.85×1023 sej,with annual growth rate of 8.7%,while the estimated total emergy was 4.58×1022 sej in 1978 and increased to 2.11×1023 sej in 2007,with annual growth rate of 5.41%. Our results indicate a deteriorate situation between economic development and environmental protection in the region. The rapid economic growth in the past thirty years was based on a great consumption of nonrenewable resource and caused continuous decrease in the capacity of sustainable development. The environmental loading ratio was 0.53 in 1978,increased to 6.06 in 2007,indicating a rapid degradation of the regional environment quality. We calculated that the actual population was 1.53 times the renewable resource population in 1978,increased to 7.06 times in 2007. During the period of 1978-2007,the emergy rose from 2.45×1015 sej/(capita·a) to 8.07×1015 sej/(capita·a). Our analysis revealed that the emergy density presented a trend of gradual increase,and then the emergy currency ratio in Gansu decreased from 7.08×1013 sej/Chinese Yuan to 7.82×1012 sej/Chinese Yuan.

Plastic-film-side seeding,as an alternative to traditional film mulching,improves yield stability and income in maize production in semi-arid regions

Planting under plastic-film mulches is widely used in spring maize production in arid-cold regions for water conservation and warming the soil.To ameliorate the associated issues such as plastic-film residues and additional labor during the“seedling release”in spring maize production,we have developed a plastic-film-side seeding(PSS)technology with the supporting machinery.In the semi-arid regions of Northwest China,a 7-year trial demonstrated that PSS increased plant number per hectare by 6547 and maize yield by 1686 kg ha–1compared with the traditional method of seeding under plastic-film mulch(PM).Two-year experiments were conducted in two semi-arid regions to further understand the effects of PSS on three important aspects of production:(i)the moisture and temperature of soil,(ii)maize development,yield output,and water use efficiency(WUE),and(iii)the revenue and plastic-film residuals in comparison with that of flat planting(CK)and PM.Continuous monitoring of the soil status demonstrated that,compared with CK,the PSS treatment significantly increased the temperature and moisture of the 0–20 cm soil in the seeding row at the early stage of maize development,and it also promoted grain yield(at 884–1089 kg ha^(–1))and WUE,achieving a similar effect as the PM treatment.Economically,the labor inputs of PSS were equal to CK,whereas the PM cost an additional 960 CNY ha–1in labor for releasing the seedlings from below the film.Overall,the PSS system increased profits by 5.83%(547 CNY ha^(–1)yr^(–1))and 8.16%(748 CNY ha^(–1)yr^(–1))compared with CK and PM,respectively.Environmentally,PSS achieved a residual film recovery rate of nearly 100%and eliminated 96 to 130 kg ha^(–1)of residual plastic-film in PM in 3–5 years of maize production.Collectively,these results show that PSS is an eco-friendly technique for improving yield stability and incomes for the sustainable production of maize in semi-arid regions.

Evaluation of SEBS Algorithm for Estimation of Daily Evapotranspiration Using Landsat-8 Dataset in a Semi-Arid Region of Central Iran

Evapotranspiration is one the most important parameters in the hydrological cycle and plays a significant role in energy balance of the earth’s surface. Traditional field-based measurements approaches for calculation of daily evapotranspiration are valid only for local scales. Using advanced remote sensing technology, the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration may now be quantified more accurately. At the present study, daily evapotranspiration is estimated using Landsat 8 datasets based on the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) algorithm over the Zayanderud Dam area in central Iran. For this purpose, three Landsat 8 datasets in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 covering the study area were atmospherically corrected using the FLAASH approach. The biophysical parameters of the earth’s surface for SEBS algorithm, such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), Leaf area index (LAI), fractional vegetation cover (FC) were extracted from the visible and near infrared bands and land surface temperature was computed from thermal bands the Landsat 8 datasets. The spatial distribution of daily ET was provided separately for each year. In addition to the SEBS algorithm, the Penman-Monteith method was applied to estimate the daily ET from meteorological datasets which was obtained from two synoptic stations within the study area. Finally, the simulated daily ET values from both SEBS and Penman-Monteith method were compared to observed values obtained from a lysimeter within the study area. Although the estimated results from both SEBS and Penman-Monteith show a strong correlation with the observed values, the derived ET maps and following analysis demonstrated SEBS has higher accuracy and strength in estimation of daily ET in Zayanderud Dam region.

Impact of rainfed and irrigated agriculture systems on soil carbon stock under different climate scenarios in the semi-arid region of Brazil

Understanding the dynamics of soil organic carbon(SOC) is of fundamental importance in land use and management, whether in the current researches or in future scenarios of agriculture systems considering climate change. In order to evaluate SOC stock of the three districts(Delmiro Gouveia, Pariconha, and Inhapi districts) in the semi-arid region of Brazil in rainfed and irrigated agriculture systems under different climate scenarios using the Century model, we obtained RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate scenarios derived from the Eta Regional Climate Model(Eta-Had GEM2-ES and Eta-MIROC5) from the National Institute for Space Research, and then input the data of bulk density, p H, soil texture, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and rainfall into the soil and climate files of the Century model. The results of this study showed that the Eta-Had GEM2-ES model was effective in estimating air temperature in the future period. In rainfed agriculture system, SOC stock under the baseline scenario was lower than that under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate scenarios, while in irrigated agriculture system, SOC stock in the almost all climate scenarios(RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) and models(Eta-Had GEM2-ES and Eta-MIROC5) will increase by 2100. The results of this study will help producers in the semi-arid region of Brazil adopt specific agriculture systems aimed at mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

Runoff of arid and semi-arid regions simulated and projected by CLM-DTVGM and its multi-scale fluctuations as revealed by EEMD analysis

Runoff is a major component of the water cycle, and its multi-scale fluctuations are important to water resources management across arid and semi-arid regions. This paper coupled the Distributed Time Variant Gain Model （DTVGM） into the Community Land Model （CLM 3.5）, replacing the TOPMODEL-based method to simulate runoff in the arid and semi-arid regions of China. The coupled model was calibrated at five gauging stations for the period 1980-2005 and validated for the period 2006-2010. Then, future runoff （2010-2100） was simulated for different Representative Concentration Pathways （RCP） emission scenarios. After that, the spatial distributions of the future runoff for these scenarios were discussed, and the multi-scale fluctuation characteristics of the future annual runoff for the RCP scenarios were explored using the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition （EEMD） analysis method. Finally, the decadal variabilities of the future annual runoff for the entire study area and the five catchments in it were investigated. The results showed that the future annual runoff had slowly decreasing trends for scenarios RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5 during the period 2010-2100, whereas it had a non-monotonic trend for the RCP 4.5 scenario, with a slow increase after the 2050s. Additionally, the future annual runoff clearly varied over a decadal time scale, indicating that it had clear divisions between dry and wet periods. The longest dry period was approximately 15 years （2040-2055） for the RCP 2.6 scenario and 25 years （2045-2070） for the RCP 4.5 scenario. However, the RCP 8.5 scenario was predicted to have a long dry period starting from 2045. Under these scenarios, the water resources situation of the study area will be extremely severe. Therefore, adaptive water management measures addressing climate change should be adopted to proactively confront the risks of water resources.

Comparisons of plant calcium fraction between two different vegetation zones in semi-arid region

To explore the characteristics of plant calcium(Ca) fraction, we analyzed 91 plant species in the Ningxia Habahu National Nature Reserve in Yanchi County of Ningxia and 84 plant species in Zhenglan Banner of Inner Mongolia. Results show that, for the two regions, there is no significant difference between Ca fraction for the same growth type, and between water soluble Ca content or between hydrochloric acid soluble Ca content for plants of the same ecosystem and between hydrochloric acid soluble Ca content for plants of the same family. In similar vegetation zones, there is a significant difference among hydrochloric acid soluble Ca content for different growth types in Yanchi County and Zhenglan Banner,which was the highest for annual herbs and the lowest for perennial herbs. There is a significant difference between acetic acid soluble Ca content and between hydrochloric acid soluble Ca content for sandy land and grassland ecosystems in Yanchi County. There is a significant difference among the same Ca fraction of different families in the same region. Thus, the characteristics of plant Ca fraction are results of long-term adaptation to the environment.

Causal effects of shelter forests and water factors on desertification control during 2000–2010 at the Horqin Sandy Land region, China

The Horqin Sandy Land（HSL）, the largest sandy land in the semi-arid agro-pastoral ecotone of Northeast China, has been subject to desertification during the past century. In response, and to control the desertification,government implemented the Three-North Shelter/Protective Forest Program, world＇s largest ecological reforestation/afforestation restoration program. The program began in1978 and will continue for 75 years until 2050. Understanding the dynamics of desertification and its driving forces is a precondition for controlling desertification.However, there is little evidence to directly link causal effects with desertification process（i.e., on the changing area of sandy land） because desertification is a complex process,that can be affected by vegetation（including vegetation cover and extent of shelter forests） and water factors such as precipitation, surface soil moisture, and evapotranspiration.The objectives of this study were to identify how influencing factors, especially shelter forests, affected desertification in HSL over a recent decade. We used Landsat TM imagery analysis and path analysis to identify the effects of spatiotemporal changes in water and vegetation parameters during2000–2010. Desertification was controlled during the study period, as indicated by a decrease in desert area at a rate of163.3 km2year-1and an increase in the area with reduced intensity or extent of desertification. Total vegetation cover in HSL increased by 10.6 % during the study period and this factor exerted the greatest direct and indirect effects on slowing desertification. The contribution of total vegetation cover to controlling desertification increased with the intensity of desertification. On slightly and extremely severe desertified areas, vegetation cover contributed 5 and 42 % of the desertification reduction, respectively. There were significant correlations between total vegetation cover and water conditions（i.e., evapotranspiration and precipitation）and the area of shelter forests（P ／ 0.0001）, in which water conditions and the existence of shelter forests contributed49.7 and 12.8 % to total vegetation cover, respectively. The area of shelter forests increased sharply due to program efforts, but only shrub forests had significant direct effects on reducing the area of desertification categorized as slightly desertified. The reason for the lack of direct effect of increased arbor forests（accounting for 95.3 % of the total increase in shelter forests） on reducing desertification might be that the selected arbor species were not suited to water conditions（low precipitation, high evapotranspiration） prevailing at HSL. The establishment of shelter forests aided control of desertification in the HSL region, but the effect was less than expected. Effective control of desertification in the HSL region or other similar sandy areas will require greater improvements in vegetation cover. In particular,shrub species should be selected for plantation with reference to their potential to survive and reproduce in the harsh climatic and weather conditions typical of desertified areas.

Did Ecological Engineering Projects Have a Significant Effect on Large-scale Vegetation Restoration in Beijing-Tianjin Sand Source Region, China？ A Remote Sensing Approach

Aiming for the restoration of degraded ecosystems, many ecological engineering projects have been implemented around the world. This study investigates the ecological engineering project effectiveness on vegetation restoration in the Beijing-Tianjin Sand Source Region(BTSSR) from 2000 to 2010 based on the rain use efficiency(RUE) trend in relation to the land cover. More than half of the BTSSR experienced a vegetation productivity increase from 2000 to 2010, with the increasing intensity being sensitive to the indicators chosen. A clear tendency towards smaller increasing areas was shown when using the net primary productivity(NPP, 51.30%) instead of the accumulated normalized difference vegetation index(59.30%). The short-term variation in the precipitation and intra-seasonal precipitation distribution had a great impact on the remote sensing-based vegetation productivity. However, the residual trends method(RESTREND) effectively eliminated this correlation, while incorporating the variance and skewness of the precipitation distribution increased the models′ ability to explain the vegetation productivity variation. The RUE combined with land cover dynamics was valid for the effectiveness assessment of the ecological engineering projects on vegetation restoration. Particularly, the result based on growing season accumulated normalized difference vegetation index(ΣNDVI) residuals was the most effective, showing that 47.39% of the BTSSR experienced vegetation restoration from 2000 to 2010. The effectiveness of the ecological engineering projects differed for each subarea and was proportional to the strength of ecological engineering. The water erosion region dominated by woodland showed the best restoration, followed by the wind-water erosion crisscross regions, while the wind erosion regions dominated by grassland showed the worst effect. Seriously degraded regions still cover more area in the BTSSR than restored regions. Therefore, more future effort should be put in restoring degraded land.

Biological Characteristics of Carex brunnescens for Sand Fixation in the Source Region of the Yellow River

Carex brunnescens, a pioneer plant that has an excellent ability to fix sand in the source region of the Yellow River （Maqu）, plays an important role in maintaining the ecosystem stability of alpine grassland in Maqu. In this study, the biological characteristics （phonological characters, the growth process of overground and underground organs, and the morphological characters of underground organs） of C. brunnescens were studied by a field observation experiment. The results showed that C. brunnescens had the characteristics of turning green earlier than other plants, a long growth period, and two flowering and fruiting cycles. The leaf width, length and number of a single plant, and the density, coverage and leaf density of community increased significantly from the leaf extension period to the fruit mature period and then tended to be stable in the withering period, while the plant height and leaf area of a single plant and the leaf area of community rose significantly at first and then decreased. Underground stems （horizontal and vertical stems） and roots of C. brunnescens could survive in sand at a depth of 0-60 cm. The number of middle roots （0.2-0.5 mm in diameter） was the largest in all soil layers （0-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm）, and the total length of fine roots （〈0.2 mm） were the maximum in the sand at a depth of 20-40 cm, while the total length of middle roots was the maximum in the sand layer at a depth of 0-20 cm. The length, fresh weight and dry weight of the main root, horizontal and vertical stems was the maximum in the sand layer at a depth of 10-30 cm and was the minimum in the sand layer at a depth of 40-50 cm. It is concluded that C. brunnescens can well adapt to the alpine sand habitat of Maqu, can be used as the constructive species for ecological restoration in the alpine desertified grassland of Maqu, and has good popularization and application prospects.

Discussion on an Eco-Agriculture Model in the Semi-Arid Region of China

The semi-arid region of China covers an area of 2.2 x106km2. Water shortage in this region is the core but not the only one factor for the sustainable development of agriculture. Effective application of the energy and all kinds of resources and overall maintenance of the balance of ecological environment must be emphasized for sustainable development of the agriculture in the region. The extensive development of rural yard-economy is the only way to realize the intensive agricultural development there. A model is developed on the basis of our studies in recent years.

CHARACTERISTICS,ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION AGES OF AEOLIAN SAND IN THE SAHELIAN REGION OF MALI

The Sahelian region of Mali is one of the areas seriously affected by sandy desertification in the world. Widely distributed aeolian sand lays a material basis for the development of sandy desertification. Aeolian sand in the region is dominated by fine sand, followed by very fine sand. Sand materials contained in various sand dunes are different in grain size to a certain extent and the mineral compositions of dune sand are dominated by stable and extreme stable minerals, with high stability and maturity. Aeolian sand in the region mainly comes from the reactivation of ancient sand dunes, the transportation of recent runing water and the sand supply of dry lakes and arroyos. Since the Pliocene this region has experienced four major evolution periods of aelian sand, namely from the Pliocene to the early Quaternary, last glacial period, the Holocene and present.

Influence of non-stationarity and auto-correlation of climatic records on spatio-temporal trend and seasonality analysis in a region with prevailing arid and semi-arid climate,Iran

Trend and stationarity analysis of climatic variables are essential for understanding climate variability and provide useful information about the vulnerability and future changes,especially in arid and semi-arid regions.In this study,various climatic zones of Iran were investigated to assess the relationship between the trend and the stationarity of the climatic variables.The Mann-Kendall test was considered to identify the trend,while the trend free pre-whitening approach was applied for eliminating serial correlation from the time-series.Meanwhile,time series stationarity was tested by Dickey-Fuller and Kwiatkowski-Phillips-Schmidt-Shin tests.The results indicated an increasing trend for mean air temperature series at most of the stations over various climatic zones,however,after eliminating the serial correlation factor,this increasing trend changes to an insignificant decreasing trend at a 95%confidence level.The seasonal mean air temperature trend suggested a significant increase in the majority of the stations.The mean air temperature increased more in northwest towards central parts of Iran that mostly located in arid and semiarid climatic zones.Precipitation trend reveals an insignificant downward trend in most of the series over various climatic zones;furthermore,most of the stations follow a decreasing trend for seasonal precipitation.Furthermore,spatial patterns of trend and seasonality of precipitation and mean air temperature showed that the northwest parts of Iran and margin areas of the Caspian Sea are more vulnerable to the changing climate with respect to the precipitation shortfalls and warming.Stationarity analysis indicated that the stationarity of climatic series influences on their trend;so that,the series which have significant trends are not static.The findings of this investigation can help planners and policy-makers in various fields related to climatic issues,implementing better management and planning strategies to adapt to climate change and variability over Iran.

The Analysis of Spring Precipitation in Semi-Arid Regions: Case Study in Iran

In this study, Zanjan from Iran has been chosen from among all the semi-arid regions of world, which has Synoptic station and statistical data since 1955. Spring and monthly precipitations are also provided in the period of 1956-2005. First, all data has been controlled by double mass method with the help of adjacent stations, and then it was normalized by the box-cox transformations method. The global SPI index was calculated for all months and spring, also drought and wet periods were determined and finally compared. In the drought category view, spring months have represented the great similarities. The moving averages are represented all months and spring’s precipitations such as three years, five years, seven years and nine years are shown. Statistical period was observed and analyzed based on five periods of ten years, and results precipitation with more than 5mm and 10mm has gradually decreased on April. However the number of days with precipitation has increased. The calculated spring precipitations and all of the atmospheric factors represented the dependence of this model to maximum average of spring temperature and relative humidity of spring and winter by the use of multi variable regression method. The predicted precipitation of spring also showed the gradual decline of precipitation in the next 30 years by the arima model.

Improvement of Supplementary Irrigation Water Quality for Rain-Fed Agriculture in the Semi-Arid Region Using Magnetization Techniques

Rain-fed agriculture depends on the groundwater as a supplementary source of irrigation. The poor quality of water from the hard rock area is applied to the crops to save the crop. Continuous irrigation leads to degradation of soil, drip irrigation system as well plants. This study assessed the damages on the drip irrigation system and soil, inflicted by the use of low-quality irrigation water. The quality of water was improved with reference to raw water in terms of pH (1.57% - 5.88%), EC (3.08% - 10.08%), ions (0.96% - 46%) by using magnetization method, without disrupting the existing irrigation system in the basaltic aquifer in semi-arid to the arid condition. This was demonstrated before the farmers in central India.

How to Build Artificial Grassland in the Cold and Semi-Arid Regions? ——A Case Study in Naqu

Construction of artificial grassland is a key factor to solve the shortage of grass and forage balance in cold and semi-arid areas of high plateau,and it is the key measure to ensure the sustainable development of grassland animal husbandry in this area. At present,the artificial grassland construction is neither reasonable nor scientific,which restricts the healthy and rapid development of artificial grassland in the cold and semi-arid areas of high plateau. In this research,with Naqu Area in Tibet as a case,problems and current status in construction process of artificial grassland are analyzed in cold and semi-arid areas of high plateau. Suitable artificial forage species in Nagqu are elaborated,and recommendations for the construction and development of artificial grassland are discussed.

Relationship between Rainfall Instability and Agricultural Production in the Brazilian Semi-arid Region

The study evaluated the synergy between the indicators of rainfall,vegetation cover,land productivity in crop production,livestock production and the relationship between the value of aggregate agricultural production and the gross domestic product of municipalities in the semi-arid region of the State of Ceará,Brazil.The data sources are:CearáMeteorology and Water Resources Foundation(FUNCEME)and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics(IBGE)for the years 1996,2006 and 2017.The research used the methodology of factor analysis(FA),with decomposition into principal components,to construct the index of agricultural production preservation(IAPP).The results showed that 1996 had the best rainfall levels and the highest IAPP values compared to the other years studied.Year of 2017 was the last one of a draught period that extended in Cearáfrom 2012 to 2017.In that year the lowest values for IAPP were observed.The main conclusion is:there was the expected interaction between rainfall and agricultural preservation indicators applied in the semi-arid region of the state of Cearáin the years 1996,2006 and 2017.

Impacts of Sand and Dust Storms on Regional Economy Based on Stochastic CGE Model : A Case Study in Inner Mongolia, China

[Objectives]The paper was to study the impacts of sand and dust storms(SDS)on regional economy.[Methods]In this paper,we combined the computable general equilibrium(CGE)model and the Monte Carlo method to examine the impact of SDS on the regional economy,with a focus on GDP,price index,employment rate,industrial structure and output,income and expenditure.We extended the standard CGE model,introduced the stochastic parameters into the production module,which had significant impact on economic output,and inserted the rate of change of the total labor supply and the expenditure share of early warning and protective measures into the income and expenditure module.[Results]SDS had significant impacts on regional GDP,employment rate,and industrial output from a macro perspective,and can reduce the income of residents and enterprises and increase expenditures from a micro perspective.The impact can be reduced by taking early warning and protective measures.[Conclusions]The protective measures taken for different grades of SDS have different effects.