Climate change enhances the severity and variability of drought in the Pearl River Basin in South China in the 21st century

2018 ◽  
Vol 249 ◽  
pp. 149-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoli Wang ◽  
Ruida Zhong ◽  
Chengguang Lai ◽  
Zhaoyang Zeng ◽  
Yanqing Lian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
21St Century ◽  
South China ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Pearl River Basin ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
The Pearl River Basin

Projection of future streamflow changes of the Pearl River basin in China using two delta-change methods

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Yuan ◽  
Yeou-Koung Tung ◽  
Liliang Ren
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Pearl River Basin ◽  
Delta Change ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
The Pearl River Basin

Considerable biases in precipitation simulations in climate models have required the adoption of delta-change approaches to construct future precipitation scenarios for hydrological climate change impact studies. However, different delta-change methods yield different future precipitation scenarios that might significantly affect the projected future streamflow. To assess these effects, two delta-change methods were compared: the simple delta-change (SDC) method with a constant scaling factor and the quantile-quantile delta-change (QQDC) method with a quantile mapping-based non-uniform delta factor. The Xinanjiang (XAJ) hydrological model was applied using historical climatic data and two future precipitation scenarios for streamflow simulations in the Pearl River basin, China. The results show that the two delta-change methods have significant influences on future precipitation and streamflow projections, and these impacts become more distinct at finer and extreme event time scales. For instance, the QQDC method projects the 20-year daily maximum precipitation to be 8.1–98.6% higher than the SDC method. Consequently, the XAJ model with the QQDC future precipitation produces the 20-year daily maximum streamflow to be approximately 7.0–65.0% higher than that using the SDC precipitation. It implies that future precipitation transformation methods are a source of uncertainty, affecting future discharge projections. Such uncertainty should be considered in water resources management and flood control strategies for future climate change adaptations.

scholarly journals Moisture Variability in the East Pearl River Basin since 1894 CE Inferred from Tree Ring Records

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1075
Author(s):  
Teng Li ◽  
Jinbao Li ◽  
Tsun Fung Au ◽  
David D. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Climatic Research Unit ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Spatial Correlations ◽  
Pearl River Basin ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
The Pearl River Basin ◽  
Moisture Variability

Short-term climate change in South China has been extensively studied based on meteorological or hydrological records. However, tree ring-based long-term climate change research is rare, especially in the Pearl River basin, owing to the difficulty in finding old-aged trees. Here, we present a 200-year tree ring width chronology of Pinus kwangtungensis in the east Pearl River basin with reliable coverage from 1894 to 2014. Based on the significant climate-growth relationship between tree growth and annual self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI) from previous May to current April, the pMay-cApr scPDSI was reconstructed for the period 1894–2014. The reconstruction reveals four dry periods during 1899–1924, 1962–1974, 1988–1994, and 2003–2014, and four wet periods during 1894–1898, 1925–1961, 1975–1987, and 1995–2002. Significant spatial correlations between the reconstructed scPDSI and the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) gridded scPDSI indicate that our reconstruction can effectively represent regional moisture variability in the Pearl River basin. Spatial correlations with global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) show that our reconstruction is negatively correlated with northern and western Pacific SSTs while positively correlated with eastern Pacific SSTs, suggesting that SST variability in these domains strongly affects moisture change in the Pearl River basin.

scholarly journals Teleconnection analysis of runoff and soil moisture over the Pearl River basin in South China

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 11943-11982 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Niu ◽  
J. Chen ◽  
B. Sivakumar
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
River Basin ◽  
South China ◽  
Hydrological Processes ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Pearl River Basin ◽  
Rank Correlation Method ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
The Pearl River Basin

Abstract. This study explores the teleconnection of two climatic patterns, namely the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), with hydrological processes over the Pearl River basin in South China. The Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model is used to simulate the daily hydrological processes over the basin for the study period 1952–2000, and then, using the simulation results, the time series of the monthly runoff and soil moisture anomalies for its ten sub-basins are aggregated. Wavelet analysis is performed to explore the variability properties of these time series at 49 timescales ranging from 2 months to 9 yr. Use of wavelet coherence and rank correlation method reveals that the dominant variabilities of the time series of runoff and soil moisture are basically correlated with IOD. The influences of ENSO on the terrestrial hydrological processes are mainly found in the eastern sub-basins. The teleconnections between climatic patterns and hydrological variability also serve as a reference basis for inferences on the occurrence of extreme hydrological events (e.g. floods and droughts).

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