Rapid Urbanization and Agricultural Intensification Increase Regional Evaporative Water Consumption of the Loess Plateau

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