scholarly journals Responses of snowmelt runoff to climatic change in an inland river basin, Northwestern China, over the past 50 years

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1979-1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Wang ◽  
H. Li ◽  
X. Hao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climatic Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Northwestern China ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Snowmelt Runoff ◽  
The Past ◽  
Inland River ◽  
Inland River Basin

Abstract. The spatial and temporal variations of snowcover distribution, and snowmelt runoff are considered as sensitive indicators for climatic change. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and forecast the responses of snowmelt runoff to climate change in an inland river basin. The upper basin of Heihe River in Northwestern China was chose as the study area, and the observation data from the meteorological and hydrological stations were utilized to analyze the status and regularity of the climatic change over the past 50 years. Snow cover area was obtained by an optimized technology using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data with Normalized Difference Snow Index adjustment and topographic correction. A concept of potential snowmelt was suggested to illustrate the response of spatial snowmelt to climate change. The results show that the annual SCA proportion and the potential snowmelt keep an increasing trend since 2000. There is a negative relationship between annual air temperature and SCA proportion from 2000 to 2008. Snowmelt Runoff Model was chose to simulate snowmelt runoff and scenario forecast the change trend of snowmelt runoff in this region. The results show that climatic warming was apparent in the upper basin of Heihe River over the past 50 a. Annual average air temperature of three different weather stations located in the basin has increased 2.1 °C, 2.6 °C and 2.9 °C respectively from 1956 to present. The snowmelt runoff has increased obviously from 1970 to present. With different warming climate scenarios, the results by using SRM simulating showed that the first occurred time of snowmelt runoff shift ahead and discharge become larger as responses of snowmelt runoff to air temperature increasing, and the influence of temperature rising on average discharge of the whole snow season is not obvious.

scholarly journals Responses of snowmelt runoff to climatic change in an inland river basin, Northwestern China, over the past 50a

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 493-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Wang ◽  
H.-Y. Li ◽  
X.-H. Hao
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Heihe River Basin ◽  
Northwestern China ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Mountainous Region ◽  
Snowmelt Runoff ◽  
The Past

Abstract. The spatial and temporal variations of snowcover distribution, and snowmelt runoffs are considered as sensitive indicators for climatic change. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and forecast the responses of snowmelt runoff to climate change. The upstream of Heihe River Basin in Northwestern China was chose as the representative catchments, and the observation data of the meteorological and hydrological stations were utilized to analyze the status and the regularity for the climatic change from 1956 to 2008. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data were used to develop an optimized technology for snow mapping in the mountainous region. Snowmelt Runoff Model (SRM) was chose to simulate snowmelt runoff and scenario forecast the change trend of snowmelt runoff in catchment scale for the mountainous region in Northwestern China. The results show that climatic warming was apparent in the upstream of Heihe River Basin in the past 50a. Annual average air temperature of three different weather stations located in the basin has increased 2.1 °C, 2.6 °C and 2.9 °C, respectively. The snowmelt runoff has increased obviously from 1970 to present. With different warming climate scenarios, the results by SRM simulating showed that the first occurred time of snowmelt runoff shift ahead and discharge become larger as responses of snowmelt runoff to air temperature increasing, and the influence of temperature rising on average discharge of the whole snow season is not obvious. On the other hand, simulated discharge showed a marked increase trend with the increase of precipitation. And, the simulated results show that the increase of precipitation almost has no influence on the occurring time of snowmelt runoff.

Recent changes in climate seasonality in the inland river basin of Northwestern China

2020 ◽  
Vol 590 ◽  
pp. 125212
Author(s):  
Tingting Ning ◽  
Qi Feng ◽  
Zongxing Li ◽  
Zhi Li
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Northwestern China ◽  
Inland River ◽  
Inland River Basin

scholarly journals Assessing Variation in Water Balance Components in Mountainous Inland River Basin Experiencing Climate Change

Water ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenliang Yin ◽  
Qi Feng ◽  
Songbing Zou ◽  
Linshan Yang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Inland River ◽  
Inland River Basin

scholarly journals Multi-Model Projections of Climate Change in Different RCP Scenarios in an Arid Inland Region, Northwest China

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruotong Wang ◽  
Qiuya Cheng ◽  
Liu Liu ◽  
Churui Yan ◽  
Guanhua Huang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Heihe River Basin ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Rcp Scenarios ◽  
Maximum Air Temperature ◽  
The Heihe River Basin ◽  
Minimum Air Temperature

Based on three IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5), observed meteorological data, ERA-40 reanalysis data, and five preferred GCM (general circulation model) outputs selected from 23 GCMs of CMIP5 (Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project), climate change scenarios including daily precipitation, maximum air temperature, and minimum air temperature from 2021 to 2050 in the Heihe River basin, which is the second largest inland river basin in Northwest China, were generated by constructing a statistical downscaling model (SDSM). Results showed that the SDSM had a good prediction capacity for the air temperature in the Heihe River basin. During the calibration and validation periods from 1961 to 1990 and from 1991 to 2000, respectively, the coefficient of determination (R2) and the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) were both larger than 0.9, while the root mean square error (RMSE) was within 20%. However, the SDSM showed a relative lower simulation efficiency for precipitation, with R2 and NSE values of most meteorological stations reaching 0.5, except for stations located in the downstream desert areas. Compared with the baseline period (1976–2005), changes in the annual mean precipitation simulated by different GCMs during 2021–2050 showed great difference in the three RCP scenarios, fluctuating from −10 to +10%, which became much more significant at seasonal and monthly time scales, except for the consistent decreasing trend in summer and increasing trend in spring. However, the maximum and minimum air temperature exhibited a similar increasing tendency during 2021–2050 in all RCP scenarios, with a higher increase in maximum air temperature, which increased as the CO2 concentration of the RCP scenarios increased. The results could provide scientific reference for sustainable agricultural production and water resources management in arid inland areas subject to climate change.

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