Spatiotemporal characteristics of water budget dynamic in the Yarlung Tsangpo River basin of Tibetan Plateau based on multi-source datasets

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Jiang ◽  
Zongxue Xu
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Budget ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Water Budgets ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Yarlung Tsangpo ◽  
Yarlung Tsangpo River

<p>Understanding the dynamics of basin-scale water budgets over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is significant for hydrology and water resource management in the southern and eastern Asia. However, a detailed water balance analysis is limited by the lack of adequate hydro-climatic observations in this region. In this study, we investigate the spatiotemporal variation of water budget components (e.g. precipitation P, evapotranspiration ET and runoff Q etc.) in the Yarlung Tsangpo River basin (YTB) of southeast TP during the period of 1975-2015 through using multi-source datasets (e.g. insitu observation, remote sensing data products, reanalysis outputs and model simulations etc.). The change trend of water budget components and vegetation parameters was analyzed in the YTB on interannual scale. The results indicated that the detailed water budgets are different from upstream to downstream YTB due to different temperature, vegetation cover and evapotranspiration, which are mainly affected by different climate conditions. In the whole basin, precipitation that are mainly during June to October was the major contributor to the runoff. The P and Q were found to show a slight but insignificant decrease in most regions of YTB since the late 1990s, which showed positive relationships with the weakening Indian summer monsoon. While the ET showed an insignificant increase across most of the YTB, especially in the middle basin. The runoff coefficient (Q/P) exhibited an indistinctively decreasing trend which may be, to some extent, due to the overlap effects of ET increase and snow and glacier changes. The obtained results offer insights into understanding the evolution mechanism of hydrological processes in such a data-sparse region under changing environment.</p>

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 Ge/Si Ratio of River Water in the Yarlung Tsangpo: Implications for Hydrothermal Input and Chemical Weathering

Water ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
Yuchen Wang ◽  
Tong Zhao ◽  
Zhifang Xu ◽  
Huiguo Sun ◽  
Jiangyi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
River Water ◽  
Chemical Weathering ◽  
Iron Hydroxide ◽  
Mineral Dissolution ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Yarlung Tsangpo ◽  
Yarlung Tsangpo River ◽  
Clay Formation ◽  
Hydrothermal Water

Germanium/Silicon (Ge/Si) ratio is a common proxy for primary mineral dissolution and secondary clay formation yet could be affected by hydrothermal and anthropogenic activities. To decipher the main controls of riverine Ge/Si ratios and evaluate the validity of the Ge/Si ratio as a weathering proxy in the Tibetan Plateau, a detailed study was presented on Ge/Si ratios in the Yarlung Tsangpo River, southern Tibetan Plateau. River water and hydrothermal water were collected across different climatic and tectonic zones, with altitudes ranging from 800 m to 5000 m. The correlations between TDS (total dissolved solids) and the Ge/Si ratio and Si and Ge concentrations of river water, combined with the spatial and temporal variations of the Ge/Si ratio, indicate that the contribution of hydrothermal water significantly affects the Ge/Si ratio of the Yarlung Tsangpo River water, especially in the upper and middle reaches. Based on the mass balance calculation, a significant amount of Ge (11–88%) has been lost during its transportation from hydrothermal water to the river system; these could result from the incorporation of Ge on/into clays, iron hydroxide, and sulfate mineral. In comparison, due to the hydrothermal input, the average Ge/Si ratio in the Yarlung Tsangpo River is a magnitude order higher than the majority of rivers over the world. Therefore, evaluation of the contribution of hydrothermal sources should be considered when using the Ge/Si ratio to trace silicate weathering in rivers around the Tibetan Plateau.

scholarly journals An integration of gauge, satellite and reanalysis precipitation datasets for the largest river basin of the Tibetan Plateau

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanwei Wang ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Xiuping Li ◽  
Jing Zhou ◽  
Zhidan Hu
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Water Security ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Brahmaputra River ◽  
Hydrological Simulation ◽  
Precipitation Product ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Long Term Trends

Abstract. As the largest river basin of the Tibetan Plateau, the Upper Brahmaputra River Basin (also called “Yarlung Zangbo” in Chinese) has profound impacts on the water security of local and downstream inhabitants. Precipitation in the basin is mainly controlled by the Indian Summer Monsoon and Westerly, and is the key to understand the water resources available in the basin; however, due to sparse observational data constrained by a harsh environment and complex topography, there remains a lack of reliable information on basin-wide precipitation (there are only nine national meteorological stations with continuous observations). To improve the accuracy of basin-wide precipitation data, we integrate various gauge, satellite and reanalysis precipitation datasets, including GLDAS, ITP-Forcing, MERRA2, TRMM and CMA datasets, to develop a new precipitation product for the 1981–2016 period over the Upper Brahmaputra River Basin, at 3-hour and 5-km resolution. The new product has been rigorously validated at different temporal scales (e.g. extreme events, daily to monthly variability, and long-term trends) and spatial scales (point- and basin-scale) with gauge precipitation observations, showing much improved accuracies compared to previous products. An improved hydrological simulation has been achieved (low relative bias: −5.94 %; highest NSE: 0.643) with the new precipitation inputs, showing reliability and potential for multi-disciplinary studies. This new precipitation product is openly accessible at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3711155 (Wang et al., 2020) and, additionally at the National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (https://data.tpdc.ac.cn, login required).

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