Hydrologic effects of climate change in the Yukon River Basin

A monthly water balance (WB) model was developed for the Yukon River Basin (YRB). The WB model was calibrated using mean monthly values of precipitation and temperature derived from the Precipitation-elevation Regression on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) data set and by comparing estimated mean monthly runoff with runoff measured at Pilot Station, Alaska. The calibration procedure used the Shuffled Complex Evolution global search. Potential hydrologic effects of climate change were assessed for the YRB by imposing changes in precipitation and temperature derived from selected Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) climate simulations. Scenarios from five general circulation model (GCM) simulations were used to provide a range of potential changes. Results from the scenarios indicate an increase in annual runoff in the twenty-first century for the YRB with simulated increases in precipitation having the greatest effect on increases in runoff. Simulated increases in temperature were found to alter the timing of snow accumulation and melt.     

气候变化情景下澜沧江流域极端洪水事件研究

以澜沧江流域为研究对象,基于ISIMIP2b协议中提供的GFDL-ESM2M、HadGEM2-ES、IPSL-CM5A-LR、MIROC5这4种全球气候模式,通过4种模式的输出数据耦合VIC模型,分析4种模式在历史时期（1961—2005年)对洪峰洪量极值(年最大洪峰流量、3 d最大洪量)、极端洪水的模拟能力,比较RCR2.6和RCP6.0两种情景下未来时期（2021—2050年)年均径流量较基准期（1971—2000年)的变化情况,并结合P-III型分布曲线预估了澜沧江流域在两种情景下未来时期极端洪水的强度变化情况。结果表明：VIC模型在该流域能够较好地模拟极端洪水;HadGEM2-ES和MIROC5两种气候模式的输出数据在澜沧江流域有较好的径流模拟适用性;在RCP2.6情景下,澜沧江流域未来时期年均径流量没有明显变化,可能会有略微的增加,而在RCP6.0情景下,未来时期年均径流量有较大可能增加;澜沧江流域未来时期极端洪水较基准期,在RCP2.6情景下无明显变化,而在RCP6.0情景下,洪峰、洪量增加的可能性较大,极端洪水频率和强度也较大可能增加。     

基于SPI指数的当前及未来中国东北地区干旱时空演变特征分析

基于降水量历史观测数据和气候模式预估数据,采用标准化降水量指数(Standandized Precipitation Index,SPI)识别干旱事件,从干旱发生的频率和强度特征分析其危险性,研究东北地区当前及未来不同气候变化情景下干旱时空变化特征.结果显示:(1)bcc-csm1-1 对东北地区降水的模拟效果较好;(...     

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.     

A spatial and temporal drought risk assessment of three major tree species in Britain using probabilistic climate change projections

Probabilistic climate data have become available for the first time through the UK Climate Projections 2009, so that the risk of change in tree growth can be quantified. We assessed the drought risk spatially and temporally using drought probabilities calculated from the weather generator data and tree species vulnerabilities using Ecological Site Classification model across Britain. We evaluated the drought impact on the potential yield class of three major tree species (Picea sitchensis, Pinus sylvestris, and Quercus robur), which cover around 59 % (400,700 ha) of state-managed forests, across the lowlands and uplands. We show that drought impacts result mostly in reduced tree growth over the next 80 years when using B1, A1B, and A1FI IPCC emissions scenarios, but varied spatially. We found a maximum reduction of 94 % but also a maximum increase of 56 % in potential stand yield class in the 2080s from the baseline climate (1961–1990). Furthermore, potential production over the state-managed forests for all three species in the 2080s is estimated to decrease due to drought by 42 % in the lowlands and by 32 % in the uplands in comparison to the baseline climate. Our results reveal that potential tree growth and forest production on the state-managed forests in Britain is likely to reduce, and indicate where and when adaptation measures are required. Moreover, this paper demonstrates the value of probabilistic climate projections for an important economic and environmental sector.     

Spatial and temporal trends of extreme temperature and precipitation in the Daqing River Basin,North China

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - According to the daily maximum and minimum temperature and the precipitation at 40 meteorological stations in the Daqing River Basin of China during...     

The impact of climate change on the Niger River Basin hydroclimatology, West Africa

Climate change has the potential to reduce water availability in West Africa. This study aims to quantify the expected impact of increased greenhouse gases (GHGs) on hydroclimatology of Niger River Basin (NRB). Boundary data from a general circulation model are used to force a regional climate model, to produce dynamically downscaled hydroclimatic variables of NRB under present-day (PRS) and future climate scenarios. The data were further analyzed to detect changes in atmospheric and surface water balance components and moisture recycling ratio (β). The results show that elevated GHGs (under A1B scenario) would produce a drier climate during the rainy season and a wetter climate during the dry season. A warmer climate over NRB in all months was projected. Highest temperature increase of 3 °C occurs about 14°N in May and June, and the smallest increase of 0.5 °C occurs below 8°N in wet-dry transition period. Evaporation reduces during wet season and increases during the dry periods. Humidity increases by 2 % in the dry season, but decreases by 2–4 % in the wet season. Maximum change in moisture influx of 20.7 % and outflux of 20.6 % occur in June and July, respectively. β is projected to decrease in 75 % of the months with biggest relative change of ?18.4 % in June. The projected decrease in precipitation efficiency (ρ) during the wet season reaches ?20.3 % in June. For PRS run, about 66 % of the available atmospheric moisture in NRB precipitates between June and September, of which around 21 % originates from local evaporation. The result suggests that under enhanced GHGs, local evaporation will contribute less to atmospheric moisture and precipitation over the basin. Projected changes in rainfall and streamflow for Upper Niger and Benue sub-basin are significantly different during the wet season.     

气候变化对石羊河流域生态环境的影响分析

利用石羊河流域1959—2018年气象、水文和卫星遥感资料,采用线性倾向率、滑动t检验和相关系数(Pearson)等方法,分析石羊河流域内生态环境因素的变化事实及相互关系,得到气候变化对流域生态环境的影响程度。结果表明：石羊河流域气温呈显著上升趋势,增温速度为下游0.42℃·(10 a)^-1>中游0.36℃·(10 a)^-1>上游0.35℃·(10 a)^-1,近10 a增温最显著,较20世纪60年升高了1.67℃。四季气温均呈显著上升趋势,增温速度为冬季>秋季>春季>夏季。降水呈缓慢增加趋势,增幅为上游8.3 mm·(10 a)^-1>中游7.0 mm·(10 a)^-1>下游4.1 mm·(10 a)^-1,近10 a增加最显著,较20世纪60年代增加了17%。四季降水呈弱增加趋势,增加幅度为夏季>春季>秋季>冬季。河流流量基本持平,植被覆盖面积和归一化植被指数(NDVI)显著增大。近20 a流域气候...     

Bottom-up climate risk assessment of infrastructure investment in the Niger River Basin

The Niger River is the third largest river in the African continent. Nine riparian countries share its basin, which rank all among the world’s thirty poorest. Existing challenges in West Africa, including endemic poverty, inadequate infrastructure and weak adaptive capacity to climate variability, make the region vulnerable to climate change. In this study, a risk-based methodology is introduced and demonstrated for the analysis of climate change impacts on planned infrastructure investments in water resources systems in the Upper and Middle Niger River Basin. The methodology focuses on identifying the vulnerability of the Basin’s socio-economic system to climate change, and subsequently assessing the likelihood of climate risks by using climate information from a multi-run, multi-GCM ensemble of climate projections. System vulnerabilities are analyzed in terms of performance metrics of hydroelectricity production, navigation, dry and rainy season irrigated agriculture, flooding in the Inner Delta of the Niger and the sustenance of environmental flows. The study reveals low to moderate risks in terms of stakeholder-defined threshold levels for most metrics in the 21st Century. The highest risk levels were observed for environmental flow targets. The findings indicate that the range of projected changes in an ensemble of CMIP3 GCM projections imply only relatively low risks of unacceptable climate change impacts on the present large-scale infrastructure investment plan for the Basin.     

A method for regional climate change detection using smooth temporal patterns

This paper introduces an original method for climate change detection, called temporal optimal detection method. The method consists in searching for a smooth temporal pattern in the observations. This pattern can be either the response of the climate system to a specific forcing or to a combination of forcings. Many characteristics of this new method are different from those of the classical “optimal fingerprint” method. It allows to infer the spatial distribution of the detected signal, without providing any spatial guess pattern. The spatial properties of the internal climate variability doesn’t need to be estimated either. The estimation of such quantities being very challenging at regional scale, the proposed method is particularly well-suited for such scale. The efficiency of the method is illustrated by applying it on real homogenized datasets of temperatures and precipitation over France. A multimodel detection is performed in both cases, using an ensemble of atmosphere-ocean general circulation models for estimating the temporal patterns. Regarding temperatures, new results are highlighted, especially by showing that a change is detected even after removing the uniform part of the warming. The sensitivity of the method is discussed in this case, relatively to the computation of the temporal patterns and to the choice of the model. The method also allows to detect a climate change signal in precipitation. This change impacts the spatial distribution of the precipitation more than the mean over the domain. The ability of the method to provide an estimate of the spatial distribution of the change following the prescribed temporal patterns is also illustrated.     

Spatial and temporal variability of reference evapotranspiration and influenced meteorological factors in the Jialing River Basin,China

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Reference evapotranspiration (ETr) is one of the important parameters in the hydrological cycle. The spatio-temporal variation of ETr and other meteorological...     

Observed climate variability and change in Urmia Lake Basin, Iran

This paper analyzes climate variability and change in the Urmia Lake Basin, northwest of Iran. Annual average of the following data time series has been analyzed by statistical methods: dry bulb temperature, maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation, and number of rainy and snowy days. We have also used mean monthly temperature and precipitation data for analysis of drought spells for the period 1964–2005 to find out whether fluctuations in the lake level are attributable to natural drought. Our results indicate that mean precipitation has decreased by 9.2 % and the average maximum temperature has increased by 0.8°C over these four decades. The seasonal changes are particularly visible in winter and spring. Results of the Palmer Drought Severity Index show that on average, drought episodes have hit the Urmia Lake Basin every 5 years and most of them reached severe levels, but recent droughts have become more intense and last longer.     

Identifying stakeholder-relevant climate change impacts: A case study in the Yakima River Basin,Washington, USA

Designing climate-related research so that study results will be useful to natural resource managers is a unique challenge. While decision makers increasingly recognize the need to consider climate change in their resource management plans, and climate scientists recognize the importance of providing locally-relevant climate data and projections, there often remains a gap between management needs and the information that is available or is being collected. We used decision analysis concepts to bring decision-maker and stakeholder perspectives into the applied research planning process. In 2009 we initiated a series of studies on the impacts of climate change in the Yakima River Basin (YRB) with a four-day stakeholder workshop, bringing together managers, stakeholders, and scientists to develop an integrated conceptual model of climate change and climate change impacts in the YRB. The conceptual model development highlighted areas of uncertainty that limit the understanding of the potential impacts of climate change and decision alternatives by those who will be most directly affected by those changes, and pointed to areas where additional study and engagement of stakeholders would be beneficial. The workshop and resulting conceptual model highlighted the importance of numerous different outcomes to stakeholders in the basin, including social and economic outcomes that go beyond the physical and biological outcomes typically reported in climate impacts studies. Subsequent studies addressed several of those areas of uncertainty, including changes in water temperatures, habitat quality, and bioenergetics of salmonid populations.     

Hydrological effects of the increased CO2 and climate change in the Upper Mississippi River Basin using a modified SWAT

Increased atmospheric CO₂ concentration and climate change may significantly impact the hydrological and meteorological processes of a watershed system. Quantifying and understanding hydrological responses to elevated ambient CO₂ and climate change is, therefore, critical for formulating adaptive strategies for an appropriate management of water resources. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied to assess the effects of increased CO₂ concentration and climate change in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). The standard SWAT model was modified to represent more mechanistic vegetation type specific responses of stomatal conductance reduction and leaf area increase to elevated CO₂ based on physiological studies. For estimating the historical impacts of increased CO₂ in the recent past decades, the incremental (i.e., dynamic) rises of CO₂ concentration at a monthly time-scale were also introduced into the model. Our study results indicated that about 1–4% of the streamflow in the UMRB during 1986 through 2008 could be attributed to the elevated CO₂ concentration. In addition to evaluating a range of future climate sensitivity scenarios, the climate projections by four General Circulation Models (GCMs) under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios were used to predict the hydrological effects in the late twenty-first century (2071–2100). Our simulations demonstrated that the water yield would increase in spring and substantially decrease in summer, while soil moisture would rise in spring and decline in summer. Such an uneven distribution of water with higher variability compared to the baseline level (1961–1990) may cause an increased risk of both flooding and drought events in the basin.     

赣江流域近50a来极端降水时空变化特征

基于赣江流域1964—2013年13个水文站的日降水资料,采用AM抽样和POT抽样相结合的方法,对极端降水序列,选定日最大降水量(RX1)、极端降水量(R95)、极端降水天数(RD95)和极端降水强度(RI95)四个指标,利用Mann-Kendall趋势分析方法、Pettitt变点检验法分别对赣江流域极端降水进行时间变化趋势和突变的分析,并利用普通克里金插值,对各指标进行空间分布的分析。研究结果表明,时间变化上,赣江流域RX1、R95和RD95均表现出一定的增加趋势,但RI95变化不大,各指标在过去50 a没有发生显著突变;空间分布上,RX1、R95和RI95沿着赣江流向从西南向东北增加,而RD95的空间分布没有明显的变化规律,存在多个极大极小值中心。     

基于TM和ETM~+数据的玛纳斯河流域积雪时空分布特征研究

为了进一步研究玛纳斯河流域积雪的时空分布特征以及影响因素,应用遥感技术,以Landsat TM(美国地球资源探测卫星系统上加载的专题绘图资料)以及ETM+(增强型专题绘图资料)为数据源,利用雪盖指数法对研究区进行了积雪信息提取。通过对提取积雪信息的研究,分析了研究区的积雪时空分布的特征,并详细分析了高程、坡度、坡向以及其他因素对于积雪分布的影响。结果表明研究区积雪空间分布随高度和地形变化非常明显,积雪主要分布高海拔地区,而山间河谷地带则相对较少,同时积雪受季节影响较大,主要集中在秋、冬、春3个季节;并得出高程、坡向对积雪分布影响比较大,而坡度对积雪分布影响则相对较小的规律特征。     

Spatial and temporal characteristics of wet spells in the Yangtze River Basin from 1961 to 2003

Daily precipitation records of 147 meteorological stations over the Yangtze River Basin have permitted a detailed analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of wet spells during the period 1961–2003 by distinguishing average daily amount thresholds of 90th and 95th percentiles. The analysis are based on several time series, namely the number of the days in wet spells, the longest wet spell and the precipitation amount in wet spells. Time series trends analyses are compiled for each station by means of the Mann-Kendall test, for four sub-regions. The results show that the annual precipitation in wet spells is higher in the southeast area and the eastern Tibetan Plateau than in the other parts. The longest wet spells are found in the eastern Tibetan Plateau for both the thresholds. The indices in wet spells for most stations have no significant trends. In contrast, only some stations in eastern Tibetan Plateau and the lower Yangtze River Basin increase significantly, while some in the middle reaches show significant decreasing trends. The regional trends analysis presents a noticeable downward trend in the middle Yangtze River Basin and upward trends in the eastern Tibetan Plateau for both 90th and 95th percentiles, however, the upward trend in the lower Yangtze River Basin and downward trends in the upper Jinshajiang River Basin are not significant.