Comparison of the streamflow sensitivity to aridity index between the Danjiangkou Reservoir basin and Miyun Reservoir basin, China

The central route of China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project would divert water from the Danjiangkou Reservoir basin (DRB) to Beijing beginning in the year 2014. The current main surface water source for Beijing is the Miyun Reservoir basin (MRB). The observed streamflows into the DRB and the MRB decreased significantly due to climatic variation and human activities from 1960 to 2005. The climate elasticity method is widely used to quantitatively separate the impacts of climatic variation and human activities on streamflow. One of the uncertainties of the method is that the impacts of changes in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration on streamflow are separated with the assumption that they are independent. However, precipitation and potential evapotranspiration are not totally independent. Aridity index, as the ratio between potential evapotranspiration and precipitation, could be considered as the representative indicator of climatic variation. In this study, the sensitivity of streamflow to aridity index is evaluated to assess the impact of climatic variation on streamflow in the DRB and the MRB. The result shows that streamflow in the MRB is more sensitive to climatic variation than that in the DRB. However, the effective impact of aridity index on streamflow is the product of the sensitivity and the change rate of aridity index. The attribution results show that change in aridity index contributed 68.8 % of the decrease in streamflow in the DRB while it contributed 31.5 % of the decrease in streamflow in the MRB. This indicated that the impact of climatic variation was the main reason of decrease in streamflow in the DRB while human activities such as increasing water consumption and land use change were the main reasons of decreasing streamflow in the MRB.     

Spatial and temporal changes in aridity index in northwest China: 1960 to 2010

Northwest China is the driest region in China and the regional climate fluctuated dramatically during the last century. Aridity index, as the ratio between potential evapotranspiration and precipitation, is a good indicator to represent regional climate character. In this study, the change and attribution of the aridity index was investigated in northwest China using the observed climate data from 80 national meteorological stations during 1960–2010. The spatial and temporal variabilities of the aridity index shows that the annual aridity index decreased significantly (P?<?0.05) by 0.048 year^?1, indicating that northwest China became wetter from 1960 to 2010. A differentiation equation method was used to attribute the change in aridity index to climate variables. The results indicate that the aridity index was most sensitive to the change in precipitation, followed by vapor pressure, solar radiation, wind speed, and air temperature. Increase in air temperature should have led to an increase in aridity index, but this effect had been offset by the increase in precipitation and vapor pressure and the decrease in wind speed. Increasing precipitation, which contributed 91.7 % of the decrease in the aridity index, was the dominant factor to the decrease in the aridity index in northwest China from 1960 to 2010.     

近40年河北省地表干燥度的时空变化

利用河北省1970-2007年48个气象台站逐日资料, 采用Penman-Monteith模型计算潜在蒸散量, 由潜在蒸散量和降水量之比构建干燥度指数, 并采用Kriging插值法进行空间插值以分析其区域特征。结果表明:1970-1985年, 由于降水量减少和潜在蒸散量减少, 蒸散量的减少速率大于降水量的减少速率, 地表干燥度指数呈下降趋势, 潜在蒸散量的显著减少是地表干燥度下降的主要原因, 而风速和日照时数的显著降低决定了潜在蒸散量的显著下降; 1986-2007年, 由于年平均气温的显著升高, 潜在蒸散量增加, 使得地表干燥度略呈上升趋势。河北省地表干燥度高值区分布在张家口地区的桑洋盆地和坝西高原, 而低值区主要在燕山南麓低山丘陵地区的承德西南部、唐山的北部和秦皇岛中北部大部分地区。干燥度减少区域主要集中在河北省东北部至河北省西部的带状区域。     

Effects of climate change on annual streamflow using climate elasticity in Poyang Lake Basin, China

Hydrological processes depend directly on climate conditions [e.g., precipitation, potential evapotranspiration (PE)] based on the water balance. This paper examines streamflow datasets at four hydrological stations and meteorological observations at 79 weather stations to reveal the streamflow changes and underlying drivers in four typical watersheds (Meigang, Saitang, Gaosha, and Xiashan) within Poyang Lake Basin from 1961 to 2000. Most of the less than 90th percentile of daily streamflow in each watershed increases significantly at different rates. As an important indicator of the seasonal changes in the streamflow, CT (the timing of the mass center of the streamflow) in each watershed shows a negligible change. The annual streamflow in each watershed increases at different rates, with a statistically significant trend (at the 5 % level) of 9.87 and 7.72 mm year^?1, respectively, in Meigang and Gaosha watersheds. Given the existence of interactions between precipitation and PE, the original climate elasticity of streamflow can not reflect the relationship of streamflow with precipitation and PE effectively. We modify this method and find the modified climate elasticity to be more accurate and reasonable using the correlation analysis. The analyses from the modified climate elasticity in the four watersheds show that a 10 % increase (decrease) in precipitation will increase (decrease) the annual streamflow by 14.1–16.3 %, while a 10 % increase (decrease) in PE will decrease (increase) the annual streamflow by ?10.2 to ?2.1 %. In addition, the modified climate elasticity is applied to estimate the contribution of annual precipitation and PE to the increasing annual streamflow in each watershed over the past 40 years. Our result suggests that the percentage attribution of the increasing precipitation is more than 59 % and the decreasing in PE is less than 41 %, indicating that the increasing precipitation is the major driving factor for the annual streamflow increase for each watershed.     

The potential of vegetation feedback to alleviate climate aridity over the United States associated with a 2×CO2 climate condition

This study examines the potential impact of vegetation feedback on changes in summer climate aridity over the contiguous United States (US) due to the doubling of atmospheric CO₂ concentration using a set of 100-year-long climate simulations made by a global climate model interactively coupled with a dynamic vegetation model. The Thornthwaite moisture index (I _m ), which quantifies climate aridity on the basis of atmospheric water supply (i.e., precipitation) and atmospheric water demand (i.e., potential evapotranspiration, PET), is used to measure climate aridity. Warmer atmosphere and drier surface resulting from increased CO₂ concentration increase climate aridity over most of the contiguous US. This phenomenon is due to larger increments in PET than in precipitation, regardless of the presence or absence of vegetation feedback. Compared to simulations without active dynamic vegetation feedback, the presence of vegetation feedback significantly alleviates the increase in aridity. This vegetation-feedback effect is most noticeable in the subhumid regions such as southern, midwestern and northwestern US, primarily by the increasing vegetation greenness. In these regions, the greening in response to warmer temperatures enhances moisture transfer from soil to atmosphere by evapotranspiration (ET). The increased ET and subsequent moistening over land areas result in weaker surface warming (1–2?K) and PET (3–10?mm?month^?1), and greater precipitation (4–10?mm?month^?1). Collectively, they result in moderate increases in I _m . Our results suggest that moistening by enhanced vegetation feedback may prevent aridification under climatic warming especially in areas vulnerable to climate change, with consequent implications for mitigation strategies.     

Combining the standardized precipitation index and climatic water deficit in characterizing droughts: a case study in Romania

This paper characterizes droughts in Romania using the approach of both the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and climatic water deficit (WD). The values of the main climatic factors (rainfall, temperature, reference evapotranspiration, etc.) were obtained from 192 weather stations in various regions of Romania. Penman–Monteith reference evapotranspiration (ET_o-PM) was used to calculate WD as the difference between precipitation (P) and ET_o-PM. SPI was calculated from precipitation values. There is a clear difference between drought and aridity. Drought occurrence determines higher WD values for plains and plateaus and lower climatic excess water (EW) values for high mountains in Romania, depending on the aridity of the specific region considered and drought severity. WD calculated as mean values for both normal conditions and, for all locations studied, various types of drought was correlated with mean annual precipitation and temperature, respectively. The combined approach of WD and SPI was mainly carried out for periods of 1 year, but such studies could also be done for shorter periods like months, quarters, or growing season. The most arid regions did not necessarily coincide with areas of the most severe drought, as there were no correlations between WD and SPI and no altitude-based SPI zones around the Carpathian Mountains, as is the case for other climate characteristics, soils and vegetation. Water resource problems arise where both SPI values characterize extremely droughty periods and WD values are greatly below ?200 mm/year. This combined use of SPI and WD characterizes the dryness of a region better than one factor alone and should be used for better management of water in agriculture in Romania and also other countries with similar climate characteristics.     

Climate change impacts on the hydrology of a snowmelt driven basin in semiarid Chile

In this paper we present an analysis of the direct impacts of climate change on the hydrology of the upper watersheds (range in elevation from 1,000 to 5,500 m above sea level) of the snowmelt-driven Limarí river basin, located in north-central Chile (30° S, 70° W). A climate-driven hydrology and water resources model was calibrated using meteorological and streamflow observations and later forced by a baseline and two climate change projections (A2, B2) that show an increase in temperature of about 3?C4°C and a reduction in precipitation of 10?C30% with respect to baseline. The results show that annual mean streamflow decreases more than the projected rainfall decrease because a warmer climate also enhances water losses to evapotranspiration. Also in future climate, the seasonal maximum streamflow tends to occur earlier than in current conditions, because of the increase in temperature during spring/summer and the lower snow accumulation in winter.     

Assessment of agricultural drought in rainfed cereal production areas of northern China

Agricultural drought assessment is an important tool for water management in water-scarce regions such as Inner Mongolia and northeastern China. Conventional methods have difficulty of clarifying long-term influences of drought on regional agricultural production. To accurately evaluate regional agricultural drought, we assessed the performance of drought indices by constructing a new assessment framework with three components: crop model calibration and validation, drought index calculation, and index assessment (standard period setting, mean value and agreement assessments). The Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model simulated well of county-level wheat and maize yields in the nine investigated counties. We calculated a major crop-specific index yield reduction caused by water stress (WSYR) in the EPIC crop model, by relating potential and rainfed yields. Using 26 agricultural drought cases, we compared WSYR with two meteorological drought indices: precipitation (P) and aridity index (AI). The results showed that WSYR had greater agreement (85 %) than either the precipitation (65 %) or aridity index (68 %). The temporal trend of the indices over the period 1962–2010 was tested using three approaches. The result via WSYR revealed a significant increase in the trend of agricultural drought in drought-prone counties, which could not be shown by the precipitation and aridity indices. Total number of dry year via WSYR from 1990s to 2000s increases more sharply than via P or AI. As shown by WSYR, the number of dry years in northeastern China and Inner Mongolia is generally increasing, particularly after the 2000s, in the western part of the study area. The study reveals the usefulness of the framework for drought index assessment and indicates the potential of WSYR and possible drought cases for drought classification.     

我国干旱半干旱区气候变化特征及其对干湿波动的影响

气候干湿状况是表征区域气候特征的重要指标,是在全球气候变暖背景下,水循环与陆面蒸散发作用的综合结果。本文从湿润度指数入手,结合降水与潜在蒸散的时空变化,分析了我国干旱半干旱区气候特点与干湿变化特征及对土壤湿度的影响。分析发现：近50年来,我国干旱与半干旱区均呈变湿趋势。干旱区与半干旱区潜在蒸散与降水月差值在年内出现时间上存在不一致,且干旱区明显大于半干旱区;3～9月为干旱气候区潜在蒸散与降水差值大值期,3～6月半干旱区潜在蒸散明显大于降水,7月起差值明显减小。作用分析表明,在干旱区,降水对湿润度指数的影响更大,而对于半干旱区,降水与潜在蒸散作用相当。长期以来,我国整个干旱与半干旱区大部分土壤湿度在逐渐变干,尤其是农业耕作层的浅层土壤,几乎全区域一致呈现变干趋势,说明我国干旱半干旱区农牧业生产存在较大的潜在干旱风险。     

Effects of projected climate change on the hydrology in the Mono Lake Basin, California

The Californian Mono Lake Basin (MLB) is a fragile ecosystem, for which a 1983 ruling carefully balanced water diversions with ecological needs without the consideration of global climate change. The hydroclimatologic response to the impact of projected climatic changes in the MLB has not been comprehensively assessed and is the focus of this study. Downscaled temperature and precipitation projections from 16 Global Climate Models (GCMs), using two emission scenarios (B1 and A2), were used to drive a calibrated Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrologic model to assess the effects on streamflow on the two significant inflows to the MLB, Lee Vining and Rush Creeks. For the MLB, the GCM ensemble output suggests significant increases in annual temperature, averaging 2.5 and 4.1 °C for the B1 and A2 emission scenarios, respectively, with concurrent small (1–3 %) decreases in annual precipitation by the end of the century. Annual total evapotranspiration is projected to increase by 10 mm by the end of the century for both emission scenarios. SWAT modeling results suggest a significant hydrologic response in the MLB by the end of the century that includes a) decreases in annual streamflow by 15 % compared to historical conditions b) an advance of the peak snowmelt runoff to 1 month earlier (June to May), c) a decreased (10–15 %) occurrence of ‘wet’ hydrologic years, and d) and more frequent (7–22 %) drought conditions. Ecosystem health and water diversions may be affected by reduced water availability in the MLB by the end of the century.     

Separation of the impact of climate change and human activity on streamflow in the upper and middle reaches of the Taoer River,northeastern China

The Taoer River, a representative ecologically sensitive area in Northeast China, has undergone great climate changes and rapid social developments since 1961. Subsequently, a substantial alteration of the streamflow regime was observed and severe eco-environmental problems were becoming prominent. To provide decision makers the scientific basis for effective resource management and sound future planning, it is crucial to understand and assess the impacts of the climate variability and human activities on streamflow in this region. In this study, we combined an observation-based statistical analysis and physical modeling experiments to address this broad question. The Mann–Kendall and Sen’s slope were used to examine the trends and the moving t test was used to identify change points for the streamflow, precipitation, and potential evapotranspiration datasets. A statistically significant upward trend (α?=?5 %) was found for annual streamflow. An abrupt change point was identified in 1985 for the basin outlet station at Taonan. Accordingly, the streamflow was divided into baseline and changed period for attribution analysis. To investigate the impacts of climate change and human activities on annual streamflow, we applied a distributed hydrological model and six Budyko-type functions during the two periods. The results indicated that climate change and human activities accounted for about 45 and 55 % of the changes in streamflow, respectively.     

标准化降水蒸发指数在中国区域的应用

利用中国气象局160个站1951～2010年月降水和月平均气温资料,分析了最近定义的一种干旱指数——标准化降水蒸发指数(SPEI)在我国不同等级降水区域的适用性,并与标准化降水指数(SPI)和湿润指数H进行了对比分析。结果表明:1)在我国年均降水量大于200 mm的地区,各种时间尺度的SPEI分析均适用;在干旱区(年均降水量小于200 mm),只有12个月以上的大尺度SPEI分析适用性较好;其中12个月尺度的SPEI分析在各区适用性最好。2)由于干旱区冬季的潜在蒸发量和降水量0值均较多,导致1、3、6个月的小尺度SPEI分析在该区不适用。3)与SPI和H指数相比,SPEI既能充分反映1997年气温跃变以后增温效应对干旱程度的影响,又可作为监测指数识别干旱是否发生和结束,能较准确地表征干旱状况。     

Investigation of temporal and spatial climate variability and aridity of Iran

The aim of this research is to study the spatial and temporal variability of aridity in Iran, through analysis of temperature and precipitation trends during the 48-year period of 1961–2008. In this study, four different aridity criteria have been used to investigate the aridity situation. These aridity indexes included Lang’s index or rain factor, Budyko index or radiational index of dryness, UNEP aridity index, and Thornthwaite moisture index. The results of the analysis indicated that the highest and lowest mean temperatures occurred in July and January respectively in all locations. Among the study locations, Ahvaz with 37.1 °C and Kermanshah with 20.2 °C has the highest and lowest in July. For January, the highest was 12.4 °C for Ahvaz and the lowest was ?4.5 °C for Hamedan and Kermanshah together. The range of monthly mean temperature of study locations indicated that the maximum and minimum difference between day and night temperatures, almost in all study locations, occurred in September and January, respectively, and the highest and lowest fluctuation of temperature was observed in Kerman and Tehran. The temperature anomalies showed that the most significant increasing temperature occurred at the beginning of twenty-first century (2000–2008) in all locations. The long-term mean of monthly rainfall showed that, in most study locations, the maximum and minimum of mean precipitation occurred in winter and summer, respectively. Rasht with 1,355 mm had the highest and Yazd with 55 mm had the lowest of total precipitation compared with other locations. According to precipitation anomalies, all locations experienced dry and wet periods, but generally dry periods occurred more often especially in the beginning of twenty-first century. According to applied different aridity indexes, all the study locations often experienced semi-arid to arid climate, severe water deficit to desert climate, arid to hyperarid climate, and semi-arid climate during the study period.     

Modeling the eco-hydrologic response of a Mediterranean type ecosystem to the combined impacts of projected climate change and altered fire frequencies

Global Climate Models (GCMs) project moderate warming along with increases in atmospheric CO₂ for California Mediterranean type ecosystems (MTEs). In water-limited ecosystems, vegetation acts as an important control on streamflow and responds to soil moisture availability. Fires are also key disturbances in semi-arid environments, and few studies have explored the potential interactions among changes in climate, vegetation dynamics, hydrology, elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations and fire. We model ecosystem productivity, evapotranspiration, and summer streamflow under a range of temperature and precipitation scenarios using RHESSys, a spatially distributed model of carbon–water interactions. We examine the direct impacts of temperature and precipitation on vegetation productivity and impacts associated with higher water-use efficiency under elevated atmospheric CO2. Results suggest that for most climate scenarios, biomass in chaparral-dominated systems is likely to increase, leading to reductions in summer streamflow. However, within the range of GCM predictions, there are some scenarios in which vegetation may decrease, leading to higher summer streamflows. Changes due to increases in fire frequency will also impact summer streamflow but these will be small relative to changes due to vegetation productivity. Results suggest that monitoring vegetation responses to a changing climate should be a focus of climate change assessment for California MTEs.     

滕州市近50年气候干湿变化

利用滕州市1956~2005年降水量、平均气温资料,用Holdridge干燥度指数来分析近50年气候干湿变化趋势和特征。滕州市近50年来在年生物温度、年可能蒸散量极显著上升背景下,年降水量不显著的减小趋势,造成年水分盈亏量显著亏损及年干燥度指数显著增大,总体呈现暖干化趋势。年干燥度指数变化有明显的阶段性,干湿期交替变化,大体经历了3个湿期和2个干期。1976年年干燥度指数发生由偏湿向偏干的突变,突变后气候类型分布发生显著变化。通过对近50年年干燥度指数滑动平均值和标准差分析发现:随着干燥度指数平均值的增大,异常湿事件明显减少,而异常干事件明显增多,同时,随着标准差的增大,异常干湿事件频率明显增大。     

2001—2010年青藏高原干湿格局及其影响因素分析

基于RFE2.0模型和Penman-Monteith模型,采用潜在蒸散降水比分析了2001—2010年青藏高原生长季(5—9月)干湿气候的时空变化格局,并对其影响因素进行了探讨。结果表明:(1)干旱和半干旱区占整个青藏高原区域的67%,主要集中在高原中部及中部以北;(2)2001—2010年有25%的区域在逐渐变干,北部干旱程度总体上在逐渐减轻,南部及东南部有变干倾向;(3)降水是导致高原区域干湿气候空间格局差异的主要因素,高原干湿气候对潜在蒸散变化的敏感性最强。     

中国季降水量的气候噪声和潜在可预报性估计

利用中国130个测站1961—2004年的日降水量资料,使用低频白噪声延伸法和方差分析法估计了中国季降水量的气候噪声方差和潜在可预报性。结果表明：中国季降水量的气候噪声方差由南向北、由沿海向内陆逐渐减小,且有明显的季节变化,夏季最高,其次是春秋季,冬季最小,而且内陆的季节变化比东南沿海的季节变化显著。季降水量的潜在可预报性有较大的季节和区域差异,但总体来说,全国大部分地区的季降水量是潜在可预报的。以绝对误差小于均方差0.68倍作为预测正确标准,全国大部分地区季降水量的预报正确率上限为50%-60%。     

Explaining the hydroclimatic variability and change in the Salmon River basin

Climate change in the Pacific Northwest and in particular, the Salmon River Basin (SRB), is expected to bring about 3–5 °C rise in temperatures and an 8 % increase in precipitation. In order to assess the impacts due to these changes at the basin scale, this study employed an improved version of Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, which includes a parallel version of VIC combined with a comprehensive parameter estimation technique, Shuffled Complex Evolution (SCE) to estimate the streamflow and other water balance components. Our calibration (1955–1975) and validation (1976–1999) of the model at the outlet of the basin, White Bird, resulted in an r² value of 0.94 which was considered satisfactory. Subsequent center of timing analysis showed that a gradual advancement of snowmelt induced-peak flow advancing by about 10 days in the future. Historically, the flows have shown a general decline in the basin, and in the future while the magnitudes might not be greatly affected, decreasing runoff of about 3 % over the next 90 years could be expected and timing of peak flow would shift by approximately 10 days. Also, a significant reduction of snow water equivalent up to 25 %, increased evapotranspiration up to 14 %, and decreased soil moisture storages of about 2 % is predicted by the model. A steady decline in SWE/P from the majority of climate model projections for the basin was also evident. Thus, the earlier snowmelt, decreasing soil moisture and increased evapotranspiration collectively implied the potential to trigger drought in the basin and could affect the quality of aquatic habitats and their spawning and a detailed investigation on these impacts is warranted.     

Influence of climate variability on land degradation (desertification) in the watershed of the upper Paraíba River

The study aimed to evaluate the influence of the rainfall and aridity index variability on the process of land degradation (desertification) in order to establish the current degree of increase or decrease in dryness in the watershed of the upper Paraíba River. It included all or part of 18 municipalities, distributed in the western and eastern Cariri regions of Paraíba state. The monthly average values of reference evapotranspiration according to Penman-Monteith method were applied in the annual hydrological balance for obtaining the annual time series of the aridity index for the period from 1950 to 2013. The Mann-Kendall test (MK) was used for trend identification in the annual time series of rainfall and aridity index, at a significance level of α = 0.05. The slope of the trends was obtained by Sen’s method, and the values of rainfall, aridity index, and statistics MK were spatially kriging, to generate thematic maps. The results indicate an increase in rainfall and reduced dryness in the watershed of the upper Paraíba River, conditions that do not contribute to trigger the process of land degradation (desertification), indicating that the cause of this environmental problem is not climatic. Thus, it can be suggested that the observed manifestations of land degradation (desertification) derive much of human than climatic actions. However, there is a trend of increasing dryness and reducing rainfall in the central portion of the watershed, with stronger core in the location of Camalaú. The spatial distribution of rainfall and aridity index shows that minimum values of rainfall coincide with maximum values of the aridity index. Higher values of rainfall were observed in the northwestern portion of the watershed, while the northeast and southeast portions had the lower rainfall values, with the strongest core in the locality of Cabaceiras. The eastern sector of the watershed has high dryness, unlike the western sector, rainier, with minimum values of dryness. In the western portion of the watershed, the aridity index was in the range considered semiarid, with moderate susceptibility to land degradation process. Similarly, in the eastern portion, the dryness stood in the range considered arid, with high susceptibility. The cores with more pronounced dryness correspond to the municipalities of Cabaceiras, Caraúbas, and São João do Cariri.     

近47年哈密地区气候变化

利用新疆哈密地区5个气象台站1961~2007年气候资料,采用线性回归、Morlet小波和Mann-Kendall突变检测等方法,对哈密地区近47年的年平均气温、降水量、日照时数、年平均风速和相对湿度等气候要素以及年潜在蒸散量和地表干燥度的变化趋势和变化特征进行了研究。结果表明：①近47年哈密地区年平均气温、降水量和相对湿度呈升高趋势,日照时数和年平均风速呈减小趋势;②潜在蒸散量与年平均气温、日照时数和平均风速呈极显著的正相关关系,而与年降水量和相对湿度呈极显著的负相关关系。受上述各气候要素变化的综合影响,近47年,哈密地区潜在蒸散量和地表干燥度呈极显著的减小趋势;③突变检测表明,哈密地区年平均气温、降水量分别在1973年、1965年发生了突变性的升高,而风速、潜在蒸散量和地表干燥度分别于1980年、1980年和1975年发生了极显著的突变性减小,综合气温和地表干燥度的突变特征,可以认为,哈密地区气候在1973~1975年发生了＂暖湿化＂的突变;④各气候要素和潜在蒸散量、地表干燥度分别存在不同时间尺度的周期性变化。