Comparative assessment of extreme climate variability and human activities on regional hydrologic droughts in the Weihe River basin, North China

Abstract. Drought is a comprehensive phenomenon not only resulting from precipitation deficits and climatic factors, but also being related to terrestrial hydrologic conditions and human activities. This paper investigated the relationships among regional hydrologic drought, climate extremes and human activities in the Weihe River basin, northwest China, where is also called Guanzhong Plain. First, the study period was divided into baseline and variation period according to the runoff trend analysis. Subsequently, the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) macroscale distributed hydrologic model was applied to reconstruct the natural runoff series in variation period. Furthermore, the effects of climate change and human activities on runoff were separated by the modelling results. Finally, standardized runoff index (SRI) and extreme climate indices were generated to quantatively assess the relationships among hydrologic droughts, climate extremes and human activity impacts. The results indicated that human activity impacts is a remarkable source of runoff reduction and represented an in-phase pattern of SRI-based drought severity and warm days. It also showed that the SRI-based floods and droughts characteristics are in good correlation with extreme precipitation.

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Analysing the influence of human activity on runoff in the Weihe River basin

Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences ◽

10.5194/piahs-368-269-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 368 ◽

pp. 269-274

Author(s):

C. Shen ◽

H. Qiang

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

River Basin ◽

Human Activity ◽

Principal Component ◽

Agricultural Activity ◽

Exponential Relationship ◽

Weihe River ◽

Grey Relational ◽

Weihe River Basin ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Changing runoff patterns can have profound effects on the economic development of river basins. To assess the impact of human activity on runoff in the Weihe River basin, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to a set of 17 widely used indicators of economic development to construct general combined indicators reflecting different types of human activity. Grey relational analysis suggested that the combined indicator associated with agricultural activity was most likely to have influenced the changes in runoff observed within the river basin during 1994–2011. Curve fitting was then performed to characterize the relationship between the general agricultural indicator and the measured runoff, revealing a reasonably high correlation (R2 = 0.393) and an exponential relationship. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the influence of the 17 individual indicators on the measured runoff, confirming that indicators associated with agricultural activity had profound effects whereas those associated with urbanization had relatively little impact.

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The Runoff Evolution and the Differences Analysis of the Causes of Runoff Change in Different Regions: A Case of the Weihe River Basin, Northern China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11195295 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (19) ◽

pp. 5295 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shuoyang Li ◽

Guiyu Yang ◽

Hao Wang

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Resources ◽

River Basin ◽

Human Activity ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Runoff Reduction ◽

Runoff Change ◽

Weihe River ◽

Weihe River Basin ◽

Impacts Of Human Activity

The runoff levels of the major hydrological stations in the Weihe river basin (WRB) have been found to present decreasing trends. However, the conspicuous spatial differences in the hydro-meteorological conditions have led to variations in the rainfall–runoff pattern in each of the sub-basin areas. The aims of this research study were to reveal the main factors contributing to the runoff changes in the different regions—and it has significance in the water resources rational allocation and protection in the different regions. Three statistical methods were used to analyze the law of precipitation and runoffs of five hydrological stations. The SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model was used to reconstruct the runoff in the impact period. The effects of climate change and human activity on runoff were separated by comparing measured runoff and reconstructed runoff. The results show that the closer the proximity to the downstream hydrological station, the more the runoff decreased. In the tributaries and upstream hydrological stations (Zhuanhtou (ZT), Zhangjiashan (ZJS), and Linjiacun (LJC)), from 1970 to 2016, the dominant factor of the runoff reduction was determined to be climate change, and accounted for 148.2%, 98.9%, and 90.5%, respectively. In the hydrological stations of middle and lower reaches (Xianyang (XY) and Huaxian (HX)), the contributions of the climate change to the runoff reduction were 49.7% and 44.3%, respectively, and the impacts of human activity accounted for 50.3% and 55.7%. The impacts of human activity on the runoff reduction were slightly greater than that of the climate change. Due to the different leading factors affecting runoff change in the basin, in response to future climate change, for tributaries and upstream areas, land use should be rationally planned to achieve the optimal balance of water volume in each part of the basin, which is of great significance to the protection and utilization of water resources. As for the middle and downstream regions, reasonable planning should also be focused on the amount of water withdraw, water resource allocations, and water conservancy project construction. According to the factors affecting runoff, corresponding strategies are proposed for different regions, which have important research significance for the protection and sustainable development of watershed water resources.

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Quantitative estimation on contributions of climate changes and human activities to decreasing runoff in Weihe River Basin, China

Chinese Geographical Science ◽

10.1007/s11769-015-0734-5 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 25 (5) ◽

pp. 569-581 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Shengzhi Huang ◽

Qiang Huang ◽

Yutong Chen

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Human Activities ◽

Climate Changes ◽

Quantitative Estimation ◽

Weihe River ◽

Weihe River Basin

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Variations in the precipitation–runoff relationship of the Weihe River Basin

Hydrology Research ◽

10.2166/nh.2016.032 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 295-310 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Aijun Guo ◽

Jianxia Chang ◽

Dengfeng Liu ◽

Yimin Wang ◽

Qiang Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Human Activities ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Potential Evapotranspiration ◽

Annual Runoff ◽

Change Points ◽

Archimedean Copulas ◽

Significance Level ◽

Weihe River ◽

Weihe River Basin

The main goal of this study is to introduce the Archimedean copulas, which overcome the low accuracy and subjective nature of the traditional double mass curve method, to investigate the precipitation–runoff relationship (PRR) and detect change points in the Weihe River Basin (WRB). With the construction of a joint distribution between precipitation and runoff by the Archimedean copulas, a statistical variable considering the distribution parameter was estimated to judge the change point of the PRR. The results show that: (1) annual precipitation and runoff present decreasing trends that are significant and insignificant, respectively, at the 95% significance level, while annual potential evapotranspiration (PET) increases slightly; (2) change points of the PRR occurred in 1971 and 1994; (3) the annual runoff changed more dramatically than precipitation during the periods from 1972 to 1994 and 1995 to 2010 compared with 1960–1971, which indicates that in addition to precipitation, there are some other non-precipitation factors that are responsible for the change in the PRR; and (4) the contributions to runoff from human activities declined from 1972 to 1994 (84.15%) and 1995 to 2010 (57.16%). These results suggest that human activities (e.g., irrigation, reservoirs, water-and-soil conservation) were the primary driving forces leading to changes in the PRR in the WRB.

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Spatial-Temporal Change of Actual Evapotranspiration and the Causes Based on the Advection–Aridity Model in the Weihe River Basin, China

Water ◽

10.3390/w13030303 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 303

Author(s):

Ruirui Xu ◽

Peng Gao ◽

Xingmin Mu ◽

Chaojun Gu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Resources ◽

Solar Radiation ◽

Vapor Pressure ◽

River Basin ◽

Human Activities ◽

Temporal Change ◽

Hydrological Cycle ◽

Weihe River ◽

Weihe River Basin

Evapotranspiration is a key process between the atmospheric hydrological cycle and the energy cycle, which has a great significance in understanding climate change and the rational use of water resources, especially for the Weihe River basin (WRB) (a basin in China experiencing a shortage of water resources). We investigated the spatial-temporal change of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) based on the daily meteorological variables of 22 meteorological stations and the annual streamflow of three hydrological stations from 1970 to 2018 in the WRB. The contributions of key meteorological variables to ETa changes and the sensitivity coefficient are also quantified. The temporal trends of ETa showed an increasing trend from 1970 to 2018, and the spatial distribution of ETa increased from northwest to southeast in the WRB. Increasing trends were detected in the multi-year average, spring, and winter, but only a few stations passed the significance test. Summer and autumn showed a decreasing trend, but this trend was not significant. Solar radiation is the most sensitive meteorological variable, followed by vapor pressure, wind speed, and mean temperature. Vapor pressure contributes the most to ETa changes, followed by solar radiation. In general, vapor pressure (relative humidity) is the dominant meteorological factor affecting ETa in the WRB. In addition to meteorological factors, the ETa is also affected by combined and complicated factors caused by precipitation and human activities. As an important part of the hydrological cycle, ETa has important research significance for water resources management, economy, agriculture, and ecology and results of this study may be helpful to further clarify the climate change and human activities impacts on the basin hydrological cycle.

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