Changing properties of precipitation concentration in the Pearl River basin, China

In this paper, precipitation concentrations across the Pearl River basin and the associated spatial patterns are analyzed based on daily precipitation data of 42 rain gauging stations during the period 1960–2005. Regions characterized by the different changing properties of precipitation concentration index (CI) are identified. The southwest and northeast parts of the Pearl River basin are characterized by lower and decreasing precipitation CI; the northwest and south parts of the study river basin show higher and increasing precipitation CI. Higher but decreasing precipitations CI are found in the West and East River basin. Comparison of precipitation CI trends before and after 1990 shows that most parts of the Pearl River basin are characterized by increasing precipitation CI after 1990. Decreasing precipitation CI after 1990 (compared to precipitation CI changes before 1990) is observed only in a few stations located in the lower Gui River and the lower Yu River. Significant increasing precipitation CI after 1990 is detected in the West River, lower North River and upper Beipan River. These changes of precipitation CI in the Pearl River basin are likely to be associated with the consequences of the well-evidenced global warming. These findings can contribute to basin-scale water resource management and conservation of ecological environment in the Pearl River basin.     

Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation maxima during 1960–2005 in the Yangtze River basin and possible association with large-scale circulation

This study investigated spatial and temporal patterns of trends of the precipitation maxima (defined as the annual/seasonal maximum precipitation) in the Yangtze River basin for 1960–2005 using Mann–Kendall trend test, and explored association of changing patterns of the precipitation maxima with large-scale circulation using NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The research results indicate changes of precipitation maxima from relative stable patterns to the significant increasing/decreasing trend in the middle 1970s. With respect to annual variability, the rainy days are decreasing and precipitation intensity is increasing, and significant increasing trend of precipitation intensity was detected in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin. Number of rain days with daily precipitation exceeding 95th and 99th percentiles and related precipitation intensities are in increasing tendency in summer. Large-scale atmospheric circulation analysis indicates decreasing strength of East Asian summer monsoon during 1975–2005 as compared to that during 1961–1974 and increasing geopotential height in the north China, South China Sea and west Pacific regions, all of which combine to negatively impact the northward propagation of the vapor flux. This circulation pattern will be beneficial for the longer stay of the Meiyu front in the Yangtze River basin, leading to more precipitation in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin in summer months. The significant increasing summer precipitation intensity and changing frequency in the rain/no-rain days in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin have potential to result in higher occurrence probability of flood and drought hazards in the region.     

1990s长江流域降水趋势分析

依据国家气象局提供的实测月降水和日降水资料,运用Mann-Kendall(M-K)非参数检验法验证了降水趋势,并通过空间插补法,由点扩展到面,分析了1990s长江流域降水变化特征,发现1990s长江流域降水变化以降水在时间和空间分布上的集中度的增加为主要特点:时间上,年降水的增加趋势以冬季1月和夏季6月降水的集中增加为主;一日降水量大于等于50mm的暴雨日数和暴雨量在1990s也有了较明显的增加.空间上,年降水、夏季降水、冬季降水的增加都以中下游区的增加为主,尤其以鄱阳湖水系、洞庭湖水系的降水增加为主.1990s长江流域春季和秋季降水的减少以5月和9月两个汛期月份的降水减少为主,除金沙江水系和洞庭湖水系等少数地区外,流域大部分地区降水呈减少趋势.上述1990s出现的降水趋势明显与近年来全球变暖背景下长江流域各地区不同的温度及水循环变异有关.     

长江上游地区可利用降水量的气候特征

利用长江上游地区107个观测站1960-2008年气温、降水观测资料,采用陆面蒸发经验模型计算得到各观测站的月蒸发量,再根据水量平衡关系,得到可利用降水量,采用数理统计、REOF分析和M-K突变检验等方法,分析长江上游地区可利用降水量的气候变化特征.结果表明:长江上游可利用降水量季节变化显著,5-9月长江上游可利用降水...     

Moisture budget variations in the Yangtze River Basin, China, and possible associations with large-scale circulation

We analyzed seasonal and annual variations of the whole layer atmospheric moisture budget and precipitation during 1961–2005 and their associations with large-scale circulation in the Yangtze River basin, China. The results indicated increasing moisture budget in summer and winter, but decreasing moisture budget in spring and autumn. Positive correlations between moisture budget and precipitation illustrate tremendous impacts the moisture budget has on the precipitation changes across the Yangtze River basin. In terms of seasonal variations, significant correlations were observed between precipitation and moisture budget in spring and autumn in the upper Yangtze River basin. Besides, we also analyzed changes of geopotential height. The positive trends of the geopotential height (850 hPa) were observed in the East Asia and the negative trends in the middle and west Pacific Ocean, indicating increasing geopotential height from south to north in east Asia which largely limited the moisture propagation to north China. While decreasing meridional geopotential height from west to east along the Yangtze River basin caused more moisture propagation from the west to the east parts of the study region, which may benefit more precipitation in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin.     

Trends in frequency of precipitation extremes in the Yangtze River basin,China: 1960–2003 / Tendances d'évolution de la fréquence des précipitations extrêmes entre 1960 et 2003 dans le bassin versant du Fleuve Yangtze (Chine)

Abstract

The spatial distribution and trends in the frequency of precipitation extremes over the last 44 years (1960–2003), especially since 1990, have been analysed using daily precipitation data from 147 stations in the Yangtze River basin. The research results are as follows: (1) The 15 mm precipitation isohyet approximately divides the precipitation extremes (corresponding to the 95th percentile) of the stations in the middle and lower Yangtze reaches (higher) from those of the upper Yangtze reaches (lower). Also the starting time of the precipitation extremes in the middle and lower Yangtze reaches is earlier than of those in the upper Yangtze reaches. Precipitation extremes are concentrated mostly in June in the middle and lower Yangtze reaches, and July in the upper Yangtze reaches. (2) During the period 1960–2003, the first two decades had fewer precipitation extremes than the last two decades. There have been significant increasing trends and step changes in frequency of annual total precipitation extremes and precipitation extremes with a 1–5 day gap in the middle and lower Yangtze reaches. Precipitation extremes occur more frequently in shorter periods, separated by a few days. Precipitation extremes are also becoming more concentrated in the month with the highest frequency of extremes (June) in the middle and lower Yangtze reaches. In the upper Yangtze reaches, there is an upward tendency of extreme events in June. Increasing precipitation extremes in June for both the middle and lower, and the upper Yangtze reaches will increase the probability of flooding if the observed trends of the last 40 years continue into the future.     

长江流域汛期降水集中程度和洪涝关系研究

用新定义的降水集中度和集中期分别讨论了我国长江流域不同地段汛期降水在时间和空间上的分布特征和变化规律. 结果表明在对长江流域旱涝灾害研究方面,降水集中度和集中期能够定量地表征降水量在时空场上的非均匀性,提取出最大降水重心对应的时段,因此可以比较理想地分析旱涝灾害发生的基本特征及其形成机制. 并且在长江中下游地区的降水集中度与东亚副热带季风之间存在着比较密切的联系.     

Changes of flow regimes and precipitation in Huai River Basin in the last half century

Huai River Basin, as the sixth largest river basin in China, has a high‐regulated river system and has been facing severe water problems. In this article, the changing patterns of runoff and precipitation at 10 hydrological stations from 1956 to 2000 on the highly regulated river (Shaying River) and less‐regulated river (Huai River) in the basin are evaluated at the monthly, seasonal and annual scales using the Mann–Kendall test and simple linear regression model. The results showed that: (1) No statistically significant trends of precipitation in the upper and middle Huai River Basins were detected at the annual scale, but the trend of annual runoff at Baiguishan, Zhoukou and Fuyang stations in Shaying River decreased significantly, whereas the others were not. Moreover, the decreasing trends of runoff for most months were significant in Shaying River, although the trend of monthly precipitation decreased significantly only in April in the whole research area and the number of months in the dry season having significantly decreasing trends in runoff was more than that in the wet season. (2) The rainfall–runoff relationship was significant in both highly regulated river and less‐regulated river. In regulated river, the reservoirs have larger regulation capacity than the floodgates and thus have the smaller correlation coefficient and t‐value. In Huai River, the correlation coefficients decreased from upper stream to downstream. (3) The regulation of dams and floodgates for flood control and water supply was the principal reason for the decreasing runoff in Huai River Basin, although the decreasing precipitation in April in this basin was statistically significant. The findings are useful for recognizing hydrology variation and will provide scientific foundation to integrated water resources management in Huai River Basin. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and temporal variation of extreme precipitation indices in the Yangtze River basin, China

Regional characteristics of extreme precipitation indices (EPI) of precipitation magnitude, intensity and persistence were analyzed based on a daily rainfall dataset of 135 stations during the period of 1961–2010 in the Yangtze River basin, China. The spatial distribution of temporal trends of the selected indices was regionally mapped and investigated by using non-parametric test method. Future projections of EPI changes derived from the output of general circulation model (HadCM3) under the SRES A2 and B2 emission scenarios were downscaled and analyzed. The results show that: (a) there is not a general significant increasing or decreasing trend in EPI for the Yangtze River basin based on historical recorded data; (b) the automated statistical downscaling method-based precipitation captures some spatial distribution of the EPI and the bias correction can improve the simulation results; (c) a mixed pattern of positive and negative changes is observed in most of the nine indices under both scenarios in the first half of twenty-first century, and they increase continuously in the second half of twenty-first century; and (d) the concurrent increase in the heavy rain and drought indices indicates the possibility of the sudden change from drought to water logging in the lower region of Yangtze River basin.     

Temporal change of spatial heterogeneity and its effect on regional trend of annual precipitation heterogeneity indices

A statistical test on climate and hydrological series from different spatial resolution could obtain different regional trend due to spatial heterogeneity and its temporal variability. In this study, annual series of the precipitation heterogeneity indices of concentration index (CI) and the number of wet days (NW) along with annual total amount of precipitation were calculated based on at‐site daily precipitation series during 1962–2011 in the headwater basin of the Huaihe River, China. The regional trends of the indices were first detected based on at‐site series by using the aligned and intrablock methods, and field significance tests that consider spatial heterogeneity over sites. The detected trends were then compared with the trends of the regional index series derived from daily areal average precipitation (DAAP), which averages at‐site differences and thus neglects spatial heterogeneity. It was found that the at‐site‐based regional test shows increasing trends of CI and NW in the basin, which follows the test on individual sites that most of sites were characterized by increasing CI and NW. However, the DAAP‐derived regional series of CI and NW were tested to show a decreasing trend. The disparity of the regional trend test on at‐site‐based regional series and the DAAP‐derived regional series arises from a temporal change of the spatial heterogeneity, which was quantified by the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape. This study highlights that compared with averaging indices, averaging at‐site daily precipitation could lead to an error in the regional trend inference on annual precipitation heterogeneity indices. More attention should be paid to temporal variability in spatial heterogeneity when data at large scales are used for regional trend detection on hydro‐meteorological events associated with intra‐annual heterogeneity.     

Precipitation,temperature and runoff analysis from 1950 to 2002 in the Yangtze basin,China / Analyse des précipitations,températures et débits de 1950 à 2002 dans le bassin du Yangtze,en Chine

Abstract

Abstract Monthly precipitation and temperature trends of 51 stations in the Yangtze basin from 1950–2002 were analysed and interpolated. The Mann-Kendall trend test was applied to examine the monthly precipitation and temperature data. Significant positive and negative trends at the 90, 95 and 99% significance levels were detected. The monthly mean temperature, precipitation, summer precipitation and monthly mean runoff at Yichang, Hankou and Datong stations were analysed. The results indicate that spatial distribution of precipitation and temperature trends is different. The middle and lower Yangtze basin is dominated by upward precipitation trend but by somewhat downward temperature trend; while downward precipitation trend and upward temperature trend occur in the upper Yangtze basin. This is because increasing precipitation leads to increasing cloud coverage and, hence, results in decreasing ground surface temperature. Average monthly precipitation and temperature analysis for the upper, middle and lower Yangtze basin, respectively, further corroborate this viewpoint. Analysis of precipitation trend for these three regions and of runoff trends for the Yichang, Hankou and Datong stations indicated that runoff trends respond well to the precipitation trends. Historical flood trend analysis also shows that floods in the middle and lower Yangtze basin are in upward trend. The above findings indicate that the middle and lower Yangtze basin is likely to face more serious flood disasters. The research results help in further understanding the influence of climatic changes on floods in the Yangtze basin, providing scientific background for the flood control activities in large catchments in Asia.     

Spatial and temporal variations of precipitation in Haihe River Basin,China: six decades of measurements

This study aims to determine temporal trends and spatial distribution of the annual and monthly precipitation in the Haihe River Basin, China, during 1951–2008. A significant decreasing trend was observed for the annual precipitation, mainly attributed to the abrupt decrease in the flood‐season precipitation (June–September) around the year of 1979. No significant trend was revealed for precipitation within Period I of 1951–1979 and Period II of 1980–2008. Results of this study indicated that the relative contributions of the flood‐season precipitation decreased temporally with time and spatially with elevation. This study also identified a potential movement of storm centers from east to west portions of the basin. In addition, analysis on the precipitation anomalies also suggested a redistribution of the non‐flood season precipitation over the study area. Compared with the west portion of the basin, generally, the east received relatively more precipitation during the non‐flood season, while similar trend of precipitation redistribution was not observed in the flood season. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in daily temperature and precipitation extremes in the Yellow River Basin, China

Spatiotemporal changes in climatic extremes in the Yellow River Basin from 1959 to 2008 were investigated on the basis of a suite of 27 climatic indices derived from daily temperature and precipitation data from 75 meteorological stations with the help of the Mann–Kendall test, linear regression method and GIS technique. Furthermore, the changes in the probability distribution of the extreme indices were examined. The results indicate: (1) The whole basin is dominated by significant increase in the frequency of warm days and warm nights, and dominated by significant decrease in the frequency of cold days and cold nights. Although trends in absolute temperature indices show less spatial coherence compared with that in the percentile-based temperature indices, overall increasing trends can be found in Max Tmax (TXx), Min Tmax (TXn), Max Tmin (TNx) and Min Tmin (TNn). (2) Although the spatial patterns and the number of stations with significant changes for threshold and duration temperature indices are also not identical, general positive trends in warm indices (i.e., summer days (SU25), tropical nights (TR20), warm spell duration indicator and growing season length) and negative trends in cold indices (i.e., frost days, ice days and cold spell duration indicator) can be found in the basin. Annual nighttime temperature has increased at a faster rate than that in daytime temperature, leading to obvious decrease in diurnal temperature range. (3) The changes in precipitation indices are much weaker and less spatially coherent compared with these of temperature indices. For all precipitation indices, only few stations are characterized by significantly change in extreme precipitation, and their spatial patterns are always characterized by irregular and insignificant positive and negative changes. However, generally, changes in precipitation extremes present drying trends, although most of the changes are insignificant. (4) Results at seasonal scale show that warming trends occur for all seasons, particularly in winter. Different from that in other three seasons, general positive trends in max 1-day precipitation (Rx1DAY) and max 5-day precipitation (Rx5DAY) are found in winter. Analysis of changes in probability distributions of indices for 1959–1983 and 1984–2008 indicate a remarkable shift toward warmer condition and a less pronounced tendency toward drier condition during the past decades. The results can provide beneficial reference to water resource and eco-environment management strategies in the Yellow River Basin for associated policymakers and stakeholders.     

Trends in precipitation extremes over the Yellow River basin in North China: Changing properties and causes

The Mann–Kendall test, composite analysis, and 68 high‐quality meteorological stations were used to explore the spatiotemporal variations and causes of precipitation extremes over the Yellow River basin (YRB) during the period of 1960–2011. Results showed that (a) the YRB is characterized by decreases of most precipitation indices, excluding the simple daily intensity index, which has increasing trends in most locations, suggesting that the intensity of rainfall and the probability of occurrence of droughts have increased during the last decades. (b) Trends of extreme precipitation show mixed patterns in the lower reach of the YRB, where drought–flood disasters have increased. The increases in heavy rainfall and decreases in consecutive wet days in recent years over the northwestern portions of the YRB indicate that the intensity and frequency of above‐normal precipitation have been trending upward in domains. In the central‐south YRB, the maximum 1‐day precipitation (RX1day) and precipitation on extremely wet days (R99p) have significantly increased, whereas the number of consecutive dry days has declined; these trends suggest that the intensity of precipitation extremes has increased in those regions, although the frequency of extreme and total rainfall has decreased. (c) The spatial distributions of seasonal trends in RX1day and maximum 5‐day precipitation (RX5day) exhibited less spatial coherence, and winter is becoming the wettest season regionwide, particularly over the central‐south YRB. (d) There were multiple and overlapping cycles of variability for most precipitation indices, indicating variations of time and frequency. (e) Elevation is intimately correlated with precipitation indices, and a weakening East Asian summer monsoon during 1986–2011 compared to that in 1960–1985 may have played an important role in the declines in most indices over the YRB. Therefore, the combined effects from local and teleconnection forcing factors have collectively influenced the variations in precipitation extremes across the YRB. This study may provide valuable evidence for the effective management of water resources and the conduct of agricultural activities at the basin scale.     

Long‐term trend of precipitation in China and its association with the El Niño–southern oscillation

The plausible long‐term trend of precipitation in China and its association with El Niño–southern oscillation (ENSO) are investigated by using non‐parametric techniques. It is concluded that a greater number of decreasing trends are observed than are expected to occur by chance. Geographically, the decreasing trend was concentrated in most parts of China, including the Songliao River, Hai River, Huai River, Yellow River, Zhujiang River, and southern part of the Yangtze River basins, whereas an increasing trend appeared primarily in the western and middle parts of China, mainly including the Inland River basin, and the northern part of the Yangtze River basins. Monthly mean precipitation for the summer and early autumn months generally decreased, with the greatest decrease occurring in August. The precipitation in spring from January to April and later autumn, including September and October, tended to increase. The teleconnection between precipitation and ENSO has been investigated by using the non‐parametric Kendall's τ. The correlation coefficients between the southern oscillation index (SOI) and precipitation show the areas with positive or negative associations. Approximately 20% of the stations exhibit statistically significant correlations between SOI and precipitation, of which 70% show a negative correlation, with most of them appearing in southeast China and several appearing in northwest and northeast China. Similar regional patterns are also observed when the precipitation records are further subdivided into El Niño, La Niña, and neutral periods. Statistical tests for the three kinds of time series were carried out using the non‐parametric Wilcoxon rank‐sum test, and it is noted that the stations with significant differences in precipitation averages are mainly marked in the Yellow River basin and south China. The frequencies of below‐ and above‐average precipitation that occurred during the El Niño, La Niña, and neutral periods are estimated as well. The result shows that greater precipitation may be associated with El Niño episodes in south China, but drought may easily occur during El Niño episodes in the Yellow River basin. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of variability of precipitation in the Yangtze River Basin under the climate change conditions based on automated statistical downscaling

Many impact studies require climate change information at a finer resolution than that provided by general circulation models (GCMs). Therefore the outputs from GCMs have to be downscaled to obtain the finer resolution climate change scenarios. In this study, an automated statistical downscaling (ASD) regression-based approach is proposed for predicting the daily precipitation of 138 main meteorological stations in the Yangtze River basin for 2010–2099 by statistical downscaling of the outputs of general circulation model (HadCM3) under A2 and B2 scenarios. After that, the spatial–temporal changes of the amount and the extremes of predicted precipitation in the Yangtze River basin are investigated by Mann–Kendall trend test and spatial interpolation. The results showed that: (1) the amount and the change pattern of precipitation could be reasonably simulated by ASD; (2) the predicted annual precipitation will decrease in all sub-catchments during 2020s, while increase in all sub-catchments of the Yangtze River Basin during 2050s and during 2080s, respectively, under A2 scenario. However, they have mix-trend in each sub-catchment of Yangtze River basin during 2020s, but increase in all sub-catchments during 2050s and 2080s, except for Hanjiang River region during 2080s, as far as B2 scenario is concerned; and (3) the significant increasing trend of the precipitation intensity and maximum precipitation are mainly occurred in the northwest upper part and the middle part of the Yangtze River basin for the whole year and summer under both climate change scenarios and the middle of 2040–2060 can be regarded as the starting point for pattern change of precipitation maxima.     

Precipitation and hydrological variations and related associations with large‐scale circulation in the Poyang Lake basin,China

Long streamflow series and precipitation data are analysed in this study with aim to investigate changing properties of precipitation and associated impacts on hydrological processes of the Poyang Lake basin. Underlying causes behind the precipitation variations are also explored based on the analysis of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reanalysis data. Besides, water intrusion from the Yangtze River to the Poyang Lake basin is studied. The results indicate that (1) seasonal transitions of precipitation are observed, showing increasing precipitation in winter, slight increase and even decrease of precipitation in summer; (2) analysis of water vapour circulation indicates decreasing/increasing water vapour flux in summer/winter; in winter, water vapour flux tends to be from the Pacific. Altered water vapour flux is the major cause behind the altered precipitation changes across the Poyang Lake basin and (3) occurrence of water intrusion from the Yangtze River to the Poyang Lake basin is heavily influenced by hydrological processes of the Poyang Lake basin. Effects of the hydrological processes from the middle Yangtze River on the occurrence of water intrusion events are not significant. The results of this study indicate that floods and droughts should share the same concerns from the scholars and policy makers. Besides, the altered hydrological circulation and associated seasonal transition of precipitation drive us to face new challenges in terms of conservations of wetlands and ecological environment under the changing climate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and temporal variations in rainfall erosivity during 1960–2005 in the Yangtze River basin

Water resources and soil erosion are the most important environmental concerns in the Yangtze River basin, where soil erosion and sediment yield are closely related to rainfall erosivity. The present study explores the spatial and temporal changing patterns of the rainfall erosivity in the Yangtze River basin of China during 1960–2005 at annual, seasonal and monthly scales. The Mann–Kendall test is employed to detect the trends during 1960–2005, and the T test is applied to investigate possible changes between 1991–2005 and 1960–1990. Meanwhile the Rescaled Range Analysis is used for exploring future trend of rainfall erosivity. Moreover the continuous wavelet transform technique is using studying the periodicity of the rainfall erosivity. The results show that: (1) The Yangtze River basin is an area characterized by uneven spatial distribution of rainfall erosivity in China, with the annual average rainfall erosivity range from 131.21 to 16842 MJ mm ha^?1 h^?1. (2) Although the directions of trends in annual rainfall erosivity at most stations are upward, only 22 stations have significant trends at the 90 % confidence level, and these stations are mainly located in the Jinshajiang River basin and Boyang Lake basin. Winter and summer are the seasons showing strong upward trends. For the monthly series, significant increasing trends are mainly found during January, June and July. (3) Generally speaking, the results detected by the T test are quite consistent with those detected by the Mann–Kendall test. (4) The rainfall erosivity of Yangtze River basin during winter and summer will maintain a detected significant increasing trend in the near future, which may bring greater risks to soil erosion. (5) The annual and seasonal erosivity of Yangtze River basin all have one significant periodicity of 2–4 years.     

Trend and change-point analyses of streamflow and sediment discharge in the Yellow River during 1950–2005

Abstract

The objectives of this work are: (a) to statistically test and quantify the decreasing trends of streamflow and sediment discharge of the Yellow River in China during 1950–2005, (b) to identify change points or transition years of the decreasing trends, and (c) to diagnose whether the decreasing trends were caused by precipitation changes or human intervention, or both. The results show that significant decreasing trends in annual streamflow and sediment discharge have existed since the late 1950s at three stations located in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yellow River (P?=?0.01). Change-point analyses further revealed that transition years existed and that rapid decline in streamflow and sediment discharge began in 1985 in most parts of the basin (P?=?0.05). Adoption of conservation measures in the 1980s and 1990s corroborates the identified transition years. Double-mass curves of precipitation vs streamflow (sediment) for the periods before and after the transition years show remarkable decreases in proportionality of streamflow (sediment) generation. All percentiles of streamflow and sediment discharge after the transition years showed rapid reduction. In the absence of significantly decreasing precipitation trends, it is concluded that the decreasing trends were very likely caused by human intervention. Relative to the period before the transition, human intervention during 1985–2005 reduced cumulative streamflow by 13.5, 14.3 and 24.6% and cumulative sediment discharge by 29.0, 24.8 and 26.5%, at Toudaoguai, Huayuankou and Lijin, respectively, showing the quantitative conservation effect in the basin.

Citation Gao, P., Zhang, X.-C., Mu, X.-M., Wang, F., Li, R. & Zhang, X. (2010) Trend and change-point analyses of streamflow and sediment discharge in the Yellow River during 1950–2005. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(2), 275–285.     

Long‐term trend analysis for major climate variables in the Yellow River basin*

Some previous studies have shown that drying‐up of the lower Yellow River resulted from decreasing precipitation and excessive industrial and agricultural consumption of water from the middle and downstream regions of the Yellow River. On the basis of average air temperature, precipitation, and pan evaporation data from nearly 80 gauging stations in the Yellow River basin, the monotonic trends of major climate variables over the past several decades are analysed. The analysis was mainly made for 12 months and the annual means. The isograms for annual and typical months are given in the paper. The result shows that the average temperature in the study area exhibits an increasing trend, mainly because of the increase of temperature in December, January and February. The largest trend is shown in December and the smallest is in August. There are 65 of 77 stations exhibiting a downward trend for annual precipitation. In all seasons except summer, there is a similar trend in the upstream region of the Yellow River, south of latitude 35°N. It is interesting to note that the pan evaporation has decreased in most areas of the Yellow River basin during the past several decades. April and July showed the greatest magnitude of slope, and the area from Sanmenxia to Huayuankou as well as the Yiluo River basin exhibited the strongest declining trend. The conclusion is that the decreasing pan evaporation results from complex changes of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed, and both climate change and human activities have affected the flow regime of the Yellow River during the past several decades. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.