Stable or marginal mass loss dominating in Karakoram has been reported widely through satellite and ground investigations. This work aimed to verify the variation in glacier mass by collecting ground-based data. By tracking profiles from the first survey by China–Pakistan Batura Glacier Investigation Group in 1974–1975, we revisited Batura Glacier and conducted an updated comparable measurement of the glacier surface elevation and ice thickness of this large valley glacier of Karakoram, in August 2017. Results of ground penetrating radar (GPR) measurement were used to improve the accuracy of an ice thickness distribution model (GlabTop2). The model calculation agreed reasonably with the measurement when the optimal basal shear stress (100 kPa for clean ice to 140 kPa for heavy debris cover) and shape factor (0.9) were used. We then used a glacier bed topographies map to calculate the ice flux. By subtracting the glacier surface topographies from the remote-sensing measurements, we observed a marginal thinning in Batura during 2000–2016, with a rate of variation in glacier surface elevation of −0.12 ± 0.27 m a⁻¹. It indicated that the mass gain in the accumulation area nearly compensated the mass loss in the ablation area. In addition, both ground and satellite remote measurement reveal a steady rate of decrease in surface of the Batura tongue, implying an absence of significant variation during the past 40 years. Moreover, the mass conservation equation was applied to the Batura tongue, in combination with surface elevation variation and ice flux evolution. The tongue-averaged mass balance diminished by more than half from the 1970s to the 2010s. In summary, we inferred a near-steady state of Batura Glacier post 2000 based on the above-mentioned evidence of “Karakoram Anomaly”.

The Tarim River Basin in China has predominantly assumed the task of commodity cotton and other high water-intensive crop production in recent years. The spatial matching status of agricultural water and land resources is a prerequisite for local economic development. This paper provides an insight into the spatiotemporal variation trends of agricultural production water footprint and oasis farmland in the Tarim River Basin. The degree of spatial mismatching between oasis farmland and crop production water footprints studied in this paper found how the crop water footprint affected the change in oasis farmland area by sensitivity analysis. Time series data covering the period of 1990–2015 were used for the study. The results showed that the annual variation of crop production water footprint and oasis farmland area have experienced upward trends in Tarim River Basin. The blue water makes the largest contribution to the components of the crop production water footprint in each district (all exceeded 77%). The crop production water footprint and oasis farmland area tend to aggregate towards the eastern region. The level of spatial mismatch between the blue water footprint and farmland area fluctuated during the study period, but it was gradually remedied after 2000, while the spatial mismatch between green water footprint and farmland area gradually worsened. The number of districts with mid and high sensitivity to changes in blue water footprint continuously increased during 1990–2005, which revealed that the change in blue water footprint has an increasing influence on oasis farmland. The results can provide operable recommendations for efficient use of water resources, maintaining oasis suitable farmland scale and agricultural sustainable development in the Tarim River Basin.

As the largest alpine peat swamp wetland distribution area in the world, the Zoige has important ecological functions, including water conservation and biodiversity maintenance. In the past 20 years, the regional ecological protection and restoration measures continuously strengthened under the leadership of the local government have led to gradual improvements in the ecological environment of the region. In this study, multisource satellite remote-sensing image data were used to carry out quantitative monitoring and assessment of the main ecological elements (vegetation and water), as well as the regional leading ecosystem service function in the Zoige. Combined with local ecological protection management policies and measures, we analyzed the characteristics and effectiveness of ecological protection. We compared the ecosystem change trends of the Zoige reserve and the county, from 2001 to 2020, and found that the fractional vegetation cover (FVC) of Zoige county has increased at a rate of 0.25%/year. The growth rate was highest between 2015 and 2020, and the growth rate of FVC in the Zoige Wetland National Nature Reserve is approximately 1.89-fold that of the whole county. The water area also shows similar variation characteristics. On the whole, the water conservation capacity of the Zoige showed a significant increase from 2001 to 2020. We used high-resolution satellite remote-sensing images to capture the details of land use changes brought about by local ecological protection policies and measures, and together with macroecological indicators, we reflected on the effectiveness of regional ecological protection measures. We observed that the ecological effects of nature reserves are more direct and rapid, and the amount of water conservation within the nature reserve is about 1 × 10⁴ m³/km² higher than that of the surrounding grasslands. Satellite remote-sensing images can not only capture the multiscale change information of ecological indicators, such as vegetation and water, in a timely manner, but can also help us to identify the effectiveness of conservation measures by distinguishing and analyzing the causes of these changes.

Water conservation is an essential indicator of the hydrological regulation capacity of terrestrial ecosystems. At the regional scale, the water conservation capacity of an ecosystem is typically assessed using the water balance model (WBM). However, the estimation of the runoff depth relies heavily on rainfall data and the ecosystem runoff coefficient look-up table, which introduces uncertainties in the assessment results. To address this issue, this study constructed a new method for quantifying the spatiotemporal distribution pattern of runoff depth based on the ecosystem type and regional spatial heterogeneity characteristics using runoff observation data from hydrological observation stations. We use this new method to evaluate the water conservation capacity of the ecosystem on a regional scale and compare and analyze the differences between the new and old methods in terms of connotation, data format, and evaluation results. Finally, we discuss the advantages and potential applications of the new method.