A water budget is a quantitative accounting framework that describes the balance between inputs, outputs, and storage changes of water within a defined system, such as a watershed, aquifer, soil profile, or climatic region. It is typically expressed as P + I + Gi = ET + R + Go + ΔS, where P is precipitation, I is artificial inputs (e.g., irrigation), Gi and Go are groundwater inflows and outflows, ET is evapotranspiration, R is surface runoff, and ΔS is change in water storage. Water budgets are fundamental in hydrology and climate studies for assessing resource availability, modeling fluxes, and evaluating impacts of land-use or climate change on hydrological regimes.
Even as farmers shift toward less water-intensive crops, climate change is pushing agricultural water consumption upward in Central Asia. A new study by IAMO researchers shows that rising temperatures and atmospheric water ...
Environment
Feb 12, 2026
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Understanding how water moves through the Earth system is fundamental to predicting climate impacts and ensuring sustainable water management. Yet despite decades of research, uncertainties persist regarding how global precipitation ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 15, 2026
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How much fresh water is in the United States? It's a tough question, since most of the water is underground, accessible at varying depths. In previous decades, it's been answered indirectly from data on rainfall and evaporation. ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 14, 2026
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Groundwater is a critical resource in Southern California, where long-term drought and climate change place increasing pressure on local aquifers. Some regions, like the Hollywood Basin (a small region in and around the West ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 17, 2025
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The Qinling-Bashan Mountains (QBMs) serve as an important boundary between southern and northern China and are dubbed China's Central Water Tower (CCWT). However, the spatiotemporal structures and dynamics of the summer hydroclimate, ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 25, 2025
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The world is rapidly losing its water supply, according to the World Bank's Global Water Monitoring Report. This global report, titled Continental Drying, highlights the water crisis using unprecedentedly detailed data. Researchers ...
Environment
Nov 17, 2025
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Accurately modeling gross primary productivity (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET) in terrestrial ecosystems is essential for understanding and predicting the global carbon and water cycles. However, current models face considerable ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 13, 2025
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27 August 2025: International agricultural trade plays a central role in balancing global food supply and demand. Yet, with every shipment of crops crossing borders, the water used to produce them is virtually transferred ...
Environment
Aug 27, 2025
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The aridity index is an invaluable tool used for estimating how dry (or how humid) a location is based on the precipitation and evapotranspiration occurring in the area. It is useful for predicting the severity of droughts, ...
Even a toddler knows that plants need water. It's perhaps the first thing we learn about these green life-forms. But how plants budget this resource varies considerably. The kapok trees of the Amazon have adopted vastly different ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 31, 2025
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