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

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1977-1990 ◽  
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.

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 351-371 ◽  
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.

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

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.

scholarly journals Missing water from the Qiangtang Basin on the Tibetan Plateau

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Yong ◽  
Chi-Yuen Wang ◽  
Jiansheng Chen ◽  
Jiaqi Chen ◽  
D.A. Barry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Outer Region ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Satellite Mission ◽  
Qiangtang Basin ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Terrestrial Water

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.

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

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-181 ◽  
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 ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
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 for a better coverage than both radar network and rain gauges on the Tibetan Plateau, can be suitable alternatives for studies on 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 for a hydrologic model to simulate streamflow in the upper Yellow and Yangtze River basins on the Tibetan Plateau. The results show that the simulated streamflows using PERSIANN-CDR precipitation and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) precipitation are 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, gauge-based precipitation, GLDAS precipitation, and PERSIANN-CDR precipitation have similar good performance in simulating streamflow. The evaluation of streamflow simulation capability in this study partly indicates that the PERSIANN-CDR rainfall product has good potential to be a reliable dataset and an alternative information source of a limited gauge network for conducting long-term hydrological and climate studies on the Tibetan Plateau.

Evaluation of evapotranspiration estimates for two river basins on the Tibetan Plateau by a water balance method

2013 ◽  
Vol 492 ◽  
pp. 290-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao-Lin Xue ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Xiuping Li ◽  
Kun Yang ◽  
Deliang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Balance Method ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Water Balance Method

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

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.

The role of lakes in water cycling on the Tibetan Plateau under warming climate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liping Zhu ◽  
Baojin Qiao ◽  
Ruimin Yang ◽  
Chong Liu ◽  
Junbo Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transition ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Water Temperature ◽  
Lake Water ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Water Phase ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Water Cycling

<p>The Tibetan Plateau is one of the most important high elevation areas on the earth, performing sensitive response to global changes. As the Asia water tower, high mountain melting water is important water supplies for human development in TP and surrounded areas, but water phase transition is less known, especially under the climatic warming. Lakes are links of water phase transition and water cycle in TP. Lake water storage variations are sensitive to precipitation differentiations in the domination of the Westerlies and Indian monsoon. However, lake water storage performs inconsistent response in different regions & time periods. Based upon water balance observation, lake water storage variations are influenced by different factors, which also changed during different time period. Lake water temperature and thermoclines vary with seasons, and change water temperature gradient which influence water-air heat exchange. Lake salinities generally decreased since 1970s in the Serling Co region due to increasing of water storage. Based upon more than 60 lakes monitoring correction, it is found that lake transparency generally increased during 2000-2017 inferred by remote sensing interpretation. To aim at the deep recognizing of interactions between lake water variations and climatic changes, we need to know lake water storages and their variations for whole region and consecutive time series. To understand how heat exchanges between changing lakes and atmosphere, we need more consecutive observation data from large lakes. Therefore, the proposed work is to finish more lake survey and water balance monitoring, and continue to improve water cycling studies in the large lake basin scale for deep understanding how water cycles accompanied with mass and nutrients under the warming climatic conditions.</p>

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

Quaternary ◽  
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.

Possible Effect of the Thermal Condition of the Tibetan Plateau on the Interannual Variability of the Summer Asian–Pacific Oscillation

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (24) ◽  
pp. 9965-9977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ge Liu ◽  
Ping Zhao ◽  
Junming Chen
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Interannual Variability ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Thermal Condition ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Tropospheric Temperature ◽  
Upward Motion ◽  
Central Eastern ◽  
Asian Pacific

The summer (June–August) Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO), a large-scale atmospheric teleconnection pattern, is closely associated with climate anomalies over the Northern Hemisphere. Using the NOAA/CIRES twentieth-century reanalysis, the ECMWF twentieth-century atmospheric reanalysis, and the NCEP reanalysis, this study investigates the variability of the summer APO on the interannual time scale and its relationship with the thermal condition over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The results show that the interannual variability of the APO is steadily related to the summer TP surface air temperature during the last 100 years. Observation and simulation further show that a positive heating anomaly over the TP can increase the upper-tropospheric temperature and upward motion over Asia. This anomalous upward flow moves northward in the upper troposphere, and then turns and moves eastward, before finally descending over the mid- to high latitudes of the central-eastern North Pacific, concurrently accompanied by anomalous upward motion over the lower latitudes of the central-eastern North Pacific. The anomalous downward and upward motions over the central-eastern North Pacific reduce the in situ mid- and upper-tropospheric temperature, mainly through modulating condensation latent heat from precipitation and/or dry adiabatic heat, which ultimately leads to the interannual variability of the summer APO. In this process, the zonal vertical circulation over the extratropical Asian–North Pacific sector plays an important bridging role.

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