Changing evapotranspiration (ET) will impact freshwater availability, knowledge of which is a critical prerequisite for policy development related to water resources management in an evolving climate, especially for water‐limited regions. However, the socio‐economic effects are not considered due to the lack of detailed information about this. Here we used a well‐validated remote sensing model and multiple socio‐economic factors to investigate the driving factors of ET changes over the Loess Plateau during 1982–2012. Results showed that the modeled annual ET significantly increased by ~2 mm yr⁻² during this period (p < 0.001), caused by increased transpiration (2.16 mm yr⁻²) and interception (0.27 mm yr⁻²), which was partly offset by decreased soil evaporation (−0.47 mm yr⁻²). Meanwhile, although the average ET of the forest was larger (480.4 ± 14.8 mm yr⁻¹), it was found that the change in total ET of the region was dominated by that in grassland and cropland (1.1 km³ yr⁻², 90% altogether). Factorial simulations indicated that the intensifying ET over 79.4% and 9.1% of the study area can be explained by vegetation greening and climate change, respectively. Further analysis suggested that the vegetation greening and the increased ET were primarily associated with the rapid urbanization and agricultural intensification. Our findings highlight the potential unfavorable effects of socio‐economic activities on water resources management on this coupled natural‐human system that is already facing water scarcity issues.

中文翻译：

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快速的城市化和农业集约化增加了黄土高原的区域蒸发水消耗

蒸散量（ET）的变化将影响淡水的可获得性，其知识是在不断变化的气候中，尤其是在水资源有限的地区，与水资源管理相关的政策制定的关键前提。但是，由于缺乏有关此方面的详细信息，因此未考虑社会经济影响。在这里，我们使用经过充分验证的遥感模型和多种社会经济因素来研究1982-2012年黄土高原地区ET变化的驱动因素。结果表明，在此期间，由于蒸腾作用（2.16 mm yr ^-2）和拦截（0.27 mm yr ^-2）的增加，模拟的年度ET在此期间显着增加了约2 mm yr ^-2（p <0.001）），但部分被土壤蒸发的减少（-0.47 mm yr ^-2）所抵消。同时，尽管森林的平均ET较大（480.4±14.8 mm yr ^-1），但发现该地区的总ET的变化主要由草地和农田（1.1 km ³ yr ^{-2）的变化所决定。}，总计90％）。析因模拟表明，ET升高的研究区域分别超过了植被的绿化和气候变化，占研究面积的79.4％和9.1％。进一步的分析表明，植被的绿化和ET的增加主要与快速的城市化和农业集约化有关。我们的研究结果突显了社会经济活动对水资源管理的潜在不利影响，这对已经面临缺水问题的自然人与自然系统耦合。