Missing water from the Qiangtang Basin on the Tibetan Plateau

The Qiangtang Basin is a large endorheic basin in the inner part of the Tibetan Plateau, and has been thought to be a dry region in contrast with the surrounding wet outer region that feeds all the major Asian rivers. Combining surface hydrological data with modeling and satellite data from 2002 to 2016 CE, our study reveals that an enormous amount of water, ~54 ± 4 km3, is unaccounted for annually in the Qiangtang Basin. The amount of missing water is comparable to the total annual discharge of the Yellow River. Data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission show little increase of local terrestrial water storage. Thus, the missing water must have flowed out of the basin through underground passages. Interpreting this result in the context of recent seismic and geological studies of Tibet, we suggest that a significant amount of meteoric water in the Qiangtang Basin leaks out by way of groundwater flow through deep normal faults and tensional fractures along the nearly north-south rift valleys that are oriented subnormal to and cross the surficial hydrological divide on the southern margin of the basin. Cross-basin groundwater outflow of such a magnitude defies the traditional view of a basin-scale water cycle and leads to a very different picture from the previous hydrological view of the Qiangtang Basin. This finding calls for major rethinking of the regional water balance.

Download Full-text

Investigating water budget dynamics in 18 river basins across the Tibetan Plateau through multiple datasets

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-22-351-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 351-371 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Wenbin Liu ◽

Fubao Sun ◽

Yanzhong Li ◽

Guoqing Zhang ◽

Yan-Fang Sang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Water Budget ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Yellow River ◽

Aridity Index ◽

River Basins ◽

Surface Model ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Basin Scale

Abstract. The dynamics of basin-scale water budgets over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are not well understood nowadays due to the lack of in situ hydro-climatic observations. In this study, we investigate the seasonal cycles and trends of water budget components (e.g. precipitation P, evapotranspiration ET and runoff Q) in 18 TP river basins during the period 1982–2011 through the use of multi-source datasets (e.g. in situ observations, satellite retrievals, reanalysis outputs and land surface model simulations). A water balance-based two-step procedure, which considers the changes in basin-scale water storage on the annual scale, is also adopted to calculate actual ET. The results indicated that precipitation (mainly snowfall from mid-autumn to next spring), which are mainly concentrated during June–October (varied among different monsoons-impacted basins), was the major contributor to the runoff in TP basins. The P, ET and Q were found to marginally increase in most TP basins during the past 30 years except for the upper Yellow River basin and some sub-basins of Yalong River, which were mainly affected by the weakening east Asian monsoon. Moreover, the aridity index (PET/P) and runoff coefficient (Q/P) decreased slightly in most basins, which were in agreement with the warming and moistening climate in the Tibetan Plateau. The results obtained demonstrated the usefulness of integrating multi-source datasets to hydrological applications in the data-sparse regions. More generally, such an approach might offer helpful insights into understanding the water and energy budgets and sustainability of water resource management practices of data-sparse regions in a changing environment.

Download Full-text

Investigating basin-scale water budget dynamics in 18 rivers across Tibetan Plateau through multiple datasets

10.5194/hess-2017-429 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Wenbin Liu ◽

Fubao Sun ◽

Yanzhong Li ◽

Guoqing Zhang ◽

Yan-Fang Sang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Land Surface ◽

Water Budget ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Yellow River ◽

Aridity Index ◽

Surface Model ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Basin Scale

Abstract. The dynamics of basin-scale water budgets are not well understood nowadays over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) due to the lack of hydro-climatic observations. In this study, we investigate seasonal cycles and trends of water budget components (e.g., precipitation-P, evapotranspiration-ET and runoff-Q) in eighteen TP river basins during the period 1982–2011 through the use of multi-source datasets (e.g., in situ observations, satellite retrievals, reanalysis outputs and land surface model simulations). A water balance-based two-step procedure, which considers the changes in basin-scale water storage at the annual scale, is also adopted to calculate actual ET. The results indicated that precipitation (mainly snowfall from mid-autumn to next spring), which mainly concentrated during June–October (varied among different monsoons-impacted basins), was the major contributor to the runoff in TP basins. Increased P, ET and Q were found in most TP basins during the past 30 years except for the upper Yellow River basin and some sub-basins of Yalong River, which were mainly affected by the weakening East Asian Monsoon. Moreover, the aridity index (PET/P) and runoff coefficient (Q/P) decreased in most basins, which were in agreement with the warming and moistening climate in the Tibetan Plateau. The results obtained demonstrated the usefulness of integrating multi-source datasets to hydrological applications in the data-sparse regions. More generally, such approach might offer helpful insights towards understanding the water and energy budgets and sustainability of water resource management practices of data-sparse regions in a changing environment.

Download Full-text

A first investigation of hydrogeology and hydrogeophysics of the Maqu catchment in the Yellow River source region

Earth System Science Data ◽

10.5194/essd-13-4727-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 4727-4757

Author(s):

Mengna Li ◽

Yijian Zeng ◽

Maciek W. Lubczynski ◽

Jean Roy ◽

Lianyu Yu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Yellow River ◽

Source Region ◽

The Yellow River ◽

Mountainous Area ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Soil Thickness ◽

Eastern Area ◽

Yellow River Source

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau is the source of most of Asia's major rivers and has been called the Asian Water Tower. Detailed knowledge of its hydrogeology is paramount to enable the understanding of groundwater dynamics, which plays a vital role in headwater areas like the Tibetan Plateau. Nevertheless, due to its remoteness and the harsh environment, there is a lack of field survey data to investigate its hydrogeology. In this study, borehole core lithology analysis, soil thickness measurement, an altitude survey, hydrogeological surveys, and hydrogeophysical surveys (e.g. magnetic resonance sounding – MRS, electrical resistivity tomography – ERT, and transient electromagnetic – TEM) were conducted in the Maqu catchment within the Yellow River source region (YRSR). The hydrogeological surveys reveal that groundwater flows from the west to the east, recharging the Yellow River. The hydraulic conductivity ranges from 0.2 to 12.4 m d−1. The MRS sounding results, i.e. water content and hydraulic conductivity, confirmed the presence of an unconfined aquifer in the flat eastern area. Based on TEM results, the depth of the Yellow River deposits was derived at several places in the flat eastern area, ranging from 50 to 208 m. The soil thickness measurements were done in the western mountainous area of the catchment, where hydrogeophysical and hydrogeological surveys were difficult to be carried out. The results indicate that most soil thicknesses, except on the valley floor, are within 1.2 m in the western mountainous area of the catchment, and the soil thickness decreases as the slope increases. These survey data and results can contribute to integrated hydrological modelling and water cycle analysis to improve a full-picture understanding of the water cycle at the Maqu catchment in the YRSR. The raw dataset is freely available at https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-z6t-zpn7 (Li et al., 2020a), and the dataset containing the processed ERT, MRS, and TEM data is also available at the National Tibetan Plateau Data Center with the link https://doi.org/10.11888/Hydro.tpdc.271221 (Li et al., 2020b).

Download Full-text

Evaluating remotely sensed monthly evapotranspiration against water balance estimates at basin scale in the Tibetan Plateau

Hydrology Research ◽

10.2166/nh.2018.008 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (6) ◽

pp. 1977-1990 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Wenbin Liu

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Water Balance ◽

Interannual Variability ◽

Yellow River ◽

Evaluation Criteria ◽

River Basins ◽

Remotely Sensed ◽

Energy Budgets ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Basin Scale

Abstract Global evapotranspiration (ET) products, as compensation for eddy-covariance observations, provide useful data sources for understanding terrestrial water-energy budgets at different scales, especially for data-sparse regions. Here, we evaluated three remotely sensed ET products against water balance-based reference ET () in 16 river basins across the Tibetan Plateau (TP) on a monthly time scale from 1983 to 2011. The results indicated that ET_GLEAM performed the best overall across the 16 TP river basins in terms of the multi-year average and the interannual variability of monthly , followed by ET_ZHANG and ET_CSIRO. The multi-year means of monthly were better estimated overall by the three remotely sensed ET products rather than their interannual variability. However, the performances of the three ET datasets varied among different TP basins based on various evaluation criteria. The seasonal cycle of was better captured by ET_GLEAM, ET_ZHANG and ET_CSIRO in the Yalong, Yangtze and Salween Basins and the upper Yellow River Basins rather than that in the Yulongkashi, Bayin and Brahmaputra River Basins. Overall, the ET_GLEAM performed relatively better than other datasets. The evaluation results will provide important references for us to select suitable datasets and to apply them in basin-scale water-energy budget studies in data-sparse regions.

Download Full-text

Terrestrial Water Storage Change Retrieved by GRACE and Its Implication in the Tibetan Plateau: Estimating Areal Precipitation in Ungauged Region

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12193129 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (19) ◽

pp. 3129

Author(s):

Yao Jia ◽

Huimin Lei ◽

Hanbo Yang ◽

Qingfang Hu

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Water Balance ◽

Balance Equation ◽

Water Storage ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Terrestrial Water Storage ◽

Water Balance Equation ◽

Basin Scale ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

Areal Precipitation

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is referred to as the water tower of Asia, where water storage and precipitation have huge impacts on most major Asian rivers. Based on gravity recovery and climate experiment data, this study analyzed the terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes and estimated areal precipitation based on the water balance equation in four different basins, namely, the upper Yellow River (UYE), the upper Yangtze River (UYA), the Yarlung Zangbo River (YZ), and the Qiangtang Plateau (QT). The results show that the TWS change exhibits different patterns in the four basins and varies from −13 to 2 mm/year from 2003 to 2017. The estimated mean annual precipitation was 260 ± 19 mm/year (QT), 697 ± 26 mm/year (UYA), 541 ± 36 mm/year (UYE), and 1160 ± 39 mm/year (YZ) which performed better than other precipitation products in the TP. It indicates a potential method for estimating basin-scale precipitation through integrating basin average precipitation from the water balance equation in the poorly gauged and ungauged regions.

Download Full-text

Tracking the atmospheric-terrestrial water cycle over the Tibetan Plateau based on ERA5 and GRACE

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-20-0692.1 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-45

Author(s):

Yonghui Lei ◽

Jiancheng Shi ◽

Chuan Xiong ◽

Dabin Ji

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Water Flux ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Atmospheric Water ◽

Drainage Basins ◽

Daily Streamflow ◽

Terrestrial Water ◽

Net Water Flux

AbstractIn this study, the net water flux (precipitation minus evaporation) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and its 12 drainage basins is estimated using ERA5. The terrestrial branch of the water cycle is investigated using the total water storage anomalies (TWSAs) derived from GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) data and daily streamflow records collected in Zhimenda and Tangnaihai (two hydrological stations located in the upper Yangtze River Basin (UYZR) and upper Yellow River Basin (UYLR)). This work provides a preliminary assessment of discrepancies between model-derived and space-based observations in the atmospheric-terrestrial water cycle over the TP and its drainage basins. The results show that the net water fluxes occurring over the TP and the scale of its drainage basins are closely tied to local dynamics and physical processes and to large-scale circulation and atmospheric water vapor. ERA5 maintains the atmospheric water balance over the TP. ERA5-derived net water flux anomalies constitute a major component of the water cycle and correspond to GRACE-derived TWSAs. The water budge-based approach with the ERA5 and ITSG-Grace2018 datasets constrains the atmospheric-terrestrial water cycle over the TP and its drainage basins. Both the ERA5- and GRACE-derived estimates contain consistent long- and short-term variations over the TP. Discrepancies are evident at the drainage basin, while the ratio of signal to noise in both the ERA5 and GRACE datasets might cause discrepancies between estimates over relatively small or arid basins. Nevertheless, the observed good correspondence between ERA5- and GRACE-derived atmospheric-terrestrial water cycles over the TP highlights the potential value of the rational application of water resource information.

Download Full-text

A first investigation of hydrogeology and hydrogeophysics of the Maqu catchment in the Yellow River source region

10.5194/essd-2020-230 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mengna Li ◽

Yijian Zeng ◽

Maciek W. Lubczynski ◽

Jean Roy ◽

Lianyu Yu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Yellow River ◽

Source Region ◽

The Yellow River ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Soil Thickness ◽

Eastern Area ◽

Yellow River Source

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau is the source of most of Asia's major rivers and has been called the Asian Water Tower. Detailed knowledge of its hydrogeology is paramount to enable the understanding of groundwater dynamics, which plays a vital role in headwater areas like the Tibetan Plateau. Nevertheless, due to its remoteness and the harsh environment, there is a lack of field survey data to investigate its hydrogeology. In this study, borehole core lithology analysis, altitude survey, soil thickness measurement, hydrogeological survey, and hydrogeophysical surveys (e.g., Magnetic Resonance Sounding – MRS, Electrical Resistivity Tomography – ERT, and Transient Electromagnetic – TEM) were conducted in the Maqu catchment within the Yellow River Source Region (YRSR). The soil thickness measurements were done in the western mountainous area of the catchment, where hydrogeophysical surveys were difficult to be carried out. The results indicate soil thicknesses are within 1.2 m in most cases, and the soil thickness decreases as the slope increases. The hydrogeological survey reveals that groundwater flows from the west to the east, recharging the Yellow River. The hydraulic conductivity ranges from 0.2 m/d to 12.4 m/d. The MRS soundings results, i.e., water content and hydraulic conductivity, confirmed the presence of unconfined aquifer in the flat eastern area. The depth of the Yellow River deposits was derived at several places in the flat eastern area based on TEM results. These survey data and results can be used to develop integrated hydrological modeling and water cycle analysis to improve a full–picture understanding of the water cycle at the Maqu catchment in the YRSR. The raw data set is freely available at https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-z6t-zpn7 (Li et al., 2020).

Download Full-text

Extension of the Upper Yellow River into the Tibet Plateau: Review and New Data

Quaternary ◽

10.3390/quat4020014 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 14

Author(s):

Zhengchen Li ◽

Xianyan Wang ◽

Jef Vandenberghe ◽

Huayu Lu

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Yellow River ◽

Google Earth ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

The Yellow River ◽

Published Data ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Large Lakes ◽

River Terraces ◽

The Tibet Plateau

The Wufo Basin at the margin of the northeastern Tibet Plateau connects the upstream reaches of the Yellow River with the lowland catchment downstream, and the fluvial terrace sequence in this basin provides crucial clues to understand the evolution history of the Yellow River drainage system in relation to the uplift and outgrowth of the Tibetan Plateau. Using field survey and analysis of Digital Elevation Model/Google Earth imagery, we found at least eight Yellow River terraces in this area. The overlying loess of the highest terrace was dated at 1.2 Ma based on paleomagnetic stratigraphy (two normal and two reversal polarities) and the loess-paleosol sequence (12 loess-paleosol cycles). This terrace shows the connections of drainage parts in and outside the Tibetan Plateau through its NE margin. In addition, we review the previously published data on the Yellow River terraces and ancient large lakes in the basins. Based on our new data and previous researches, we conclude that the modern Yellow River, with headwaters in the Tibet Plateau and debouching in the Bohai Sea, should date from at least 1.2 Ma. Ancient large lakes (such as the Hetao and Sanmen Lakes) developed as exorheic systems and flowed through the modern Yellow River at that time.

Download Full-text

Diachronous Tibetan Plateau landscape evolution derived from lava field geomorphology

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1270 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mark Allen ◽

Robert Law

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Landscape Evolution ◽

Tectonic Geomorphology ◽

Normal Faults ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Lava Field ◽

Northern Tibetan Plateau ◽

Tectonic Processes ◽

Stepwise Evolution

Evolution of the Tibetan Plateau is important for understanding continental tectonics because of its exceptional elevation (~5 km above sea level) and crustal thickness (~70 km). Patterns of long-term landscape evolution can constrain tectonic processes, but have been hard to quantify, in contrast to established datasets for strain, exhumation and paleo-elevation. This study analyses the relief of the bases and tops of 17 Cenozoic lava fields on the central and northern Tibetan Plateau. Analyzed fields have typical lateral dimensions of 10s of km, and so have an appropriate scale for interpreting tectonic geomorphology. Fourteen of the fields have not been deformed since eruption. One field is cut by normal faults; two others are gently folded with limb dips <6o. Relief of the bases and tops of the fields is comparable to modern, internally-drained, parts of the plateau, and distinctly lower than externally-drained regions. The lavas preserve a record of underlying low relief bedrock landscapes at the time they were erupted, which have undergone little change since. There is an overlap in each area between younger published low-temperature thermochronology ages and the oldest eruption in each area, here interpreted as the transition between the end of significant (>3 km) exhumation and plateau landscape development. This diachronous process took place between ~32.5o - ~36.5o N between ~40 and ~10 Ma, advancing northwards at a long-term rate of ~15 km/Myr. Results are consistent with incremental northwards growth of the plateau, rather than a stepwise evolution or synchronous uplift.

Download Full-text

Evaluating the streamflow simulation capability of PERSIANN-CDR daily rainfall products in two river basins on the Tibetan Plateau

10.5194/hess-2016-282 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Xiaomang Liu ◽

Tiantian Yang ◽

Koulin Hsu ◽

Changming Liu ◽

Soroosh Sorooshian

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

River Basin ◽

Yangtze River ◽

Yellow River ◽

Yangtze River Basin ◽

Information Source ◽

Hydrologic Model ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Climate Data ◽

Streamflow Simulation

Abstract. On the Tibetan Plateau, the limited ground-based rainfall information owing to a harsh environment has brought great challenges to hydrological studies. Satellite-based rainfall products, which allow a better coverage than both radar network and rain gauges on the Tibetan Plateau, can be suitable observation alternatives for investigating the hydrological processes and climate change. In this study, a newly developed daily satellite-based precipitation product, termed Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information Using Artificial Neural Networks–Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR), is used as input of a hydrologic model to simulate streamflow in the upper Yellow and Yangtze River Basin on the Tibetan Plateau. The results show that the simulated streamflow using PERSIANN-CDR precipitation is closer to observation than that using limited gauge-based precipitation interpolation in the upper Yangtze River Basin. The simulated streamflow using gauge-based precipitation are higher than the streamflow observation during the wet season. In the upper Yellow River Basin, PERSIANN-CDR precipitation and gauge-based precipitation have similar good performance in simulating streamflow. The evaluation of streamflow simulation capability in this study partly indicates that PERSIANN-CDR rainfall product has good potentials to be a reliable dataset and an alternative information source besides the sparse gauge network for conducting long term hydrological and climate studies on the Tibetan Plateau.

Download Full-text