Water balance components estimation under scenarios of land cover change in the Vea catchment,West Africa

ABSTRACT

The need for a detailed investigation of the Vea catchment water balance components cannot be overemphasized due to its accelerated land-cover dynamics and the associated impacts on the hydrological processes. This study assessed the possible consequences of land-use change scenarios (i.e. business as usual, BAU, and afforestation for the year 2025) compared to the 2016 baseline on the Vea catchment’s water balance components using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The data used include daily climate and discharge, soil and land use/land cover maps. The results indicate that the mean annual water yield may increase by 9.1% under the BAU scenario but decrease by 2.7% under the afforestation scenario; actual evapotranspiration would decrease under BAU but increase under afforestation; and groundwater recharge may increase under both scenarios but would be more pronounced under the afforestation scenario. These outcomes highlight the significance of land-cover dynamics in water resource management and planning at the catchment.     

我国粮食供给安全与耕地资源变化

实现粮食基本自给,主要依靠自己养活自己是我国政府奉行的粮食安全思路,因而国内耕地的维护工作始终倍受关注,但是结果仍然难尽人意。本文分析了耕地面积,耕地质量,耕地分布重心,耕地改良投入,耕地农用驱动力等多种威胁国家粮食供给安全的要素变化。     

Runoff and water erosion modelling using WEPP on a Mediterranean cultivated catchment

Soil erosion due to water is a major environmental problem in many parts of the world. Most of Mediterranean countries are concerned because of their specific climate and soils sensitivity, but also because of the recent intensification of human activities and agricultural practices. Accurate estimation of soil water erosion for various land-use and climate scenarios is so an important key to define sustainable management policies. In the last decades, several studies have been carried out to build models suitable for quantifying soil erosion. Among these models, the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP, Flanagan, D.C., Nearing, M.A., 1995. USDA-Water Erosion Prediction Project: Hillslope profile and watershed model documentation. NSERL Report 10, USDA-ARS National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory, West Lafayette, IN, USA.) is a physically based, distributed-parameter model that has been developed and mainly validated in USA. Only few studies have investigated its applicability to environmental conditions that differs from those where the model was developed. The aim of this work is to test the efficiency of WEPP model to predict soil erosion at catchment scale in a Mediterranean semi-arid area. Continuous simulations have been conducted between 1995 and 2002 on an cultivated experimental catchment located upstream from a hill reservoir (Kamech catchment, 2.45 km², Cap Bon, Tunisia) where runoff and soil erosion measurements are available at the outlet. Comparison between predictions and measurements shows significant differences. Processes related to seasonal effects (as cracking soils) are pointed out as a weakness of WEPP model for Mediterranean conditions.     

Preliminary study on assessment of nutrient transport in the Taihu Basin based on SWAT modeling

With the Taihu Basin as a study area, using the spatially distributed and mechanism-based SWAT model, preliminary simulations of nutrient transport in the Taihu Basin during the period of 1995-2002 has been carried out. The topography, soil, meteorology and land use with industrial point pollution discharge, the loss of agricultural fertilizers, urban sewerage, and livestock drainages were all considered in the boundary conditions of the simulations. The model was calibrated and validated against water quality monitoring data from 2001 to 2002. The results show that the annual total productions of nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) into Lake Taihu are 40000t and 2000t respectively. Nutrient from the Huxi Region is a major resource for Lake Taihu. The non-point source (surface source) pollution is the main form of catchment sources of nutrients into Lake Taihu, occupied TN 53% and TP 56% respectively. TN and TP nutrients from industrial point pollution discharge are 30% and 16%, and sewerage in both forms of point source and non-point source are TN 31 % and TP 47%. Both the loss of agricultural fertilizers and livestock drainages from the catchment should be paid more attention as an important nutrient source. The results also show that SWAT is an effective model for the simulation of temporally and spatially nutrient changes and for the assessment of the trends in a catchment scale.     

洪水预报信息利用问题研究与讨论

分析了洪水预报研究现状,讨论了实时洪水预报系统研究中信息利用方面存在的问题,提出了值得进一步研究的关键性问题、研究思路和研究技术路线。     

Decreasing Reference Evapotranspiration in a Warming Climate—A Case of Changjiang (Yangtze) River Catchment During 1970–2000

This study deals with temporal trends in the Penman-Monteith reference evapotranspiration estimated from standard meteorological observations, observed pan evaporation, and four related meteorological variables during 1970–2000 in the Yangtze River catchment. Relative contributions of the four meteorological variables to changes in the reference evapotranspiration are quantified. The results show that both the reference evapotranspiration and the pan evaporation have significant decreasing trends in the upper, the middle as well as in the whole Changjiang (Yangtze) River catchment at the 5% significance level, while the air temperature shows a significant increasing trend. The decreasing trend detected in the reference evapotranspiration can be attributed to the significant decreasing trends in the net radiation and the wind speed.     

Spatiotemporal analysis of precipitation trends in the Yangtze River catchment

Precipitation trends in the Yangtze River catchment (PR China) have been analyzed for the past 50 years by applying the Mann-Kendall trend test and geospatial analyses. Monthly precipitation trends of 36 stations have been calculated. Significant positive trends at many stations can be observed for the summer months, which naturally show precipitation maxima. They were preceded and/or followed by negative trends. This observation points towards a concentration of summer precipitation within a shorter period of time. The analysis of a second data set on a gridded basis with 0.5° resolution reveals trends with distinct spatial patterns. The combination of classic trend tests and spatially interpolated precipitation data sets allows the spatiotemporal visualization of detected trends. Months with positive trends emphasize the aggravation of severe situation in a region, which is particularly prone to flood disasters during summer. Reasons for the observed trends were found in variations in the meridional wind pattern at the 850 hPa level, which account for an increased transport of warm moist air to the Yangtze River catchment during the summer months.     

湖北省耕地资源利用效益研究

构造了耕地产出效益系数、耕地消耗回报系数、耕地污染替代系数和耕地利用集约化系数等指标，对湖北省现有耕地资源的利用效益进行了定量分析。在此基础上，从观念更新、加大财政投资力度、优化农地使用制度等方面，提出了提高湖北省耕地资源利用效益的宏观对策，为合理利用耕地资源提供了建议。     

德国饮用水水源保护区的建立与保护

在德国,饮用水被确定为生活中的第一物质材料,饮用水水源保护区的建立与保护是一项法律程序。德国人经过１００多年的长期实践,迄今为止已建立近２００００个饮用水水源保护区,在水源地保护方面积累了大量经验,被欧美工业国吸收采纳。本文介绍了德国饮用水水源保护区的政策、规范与模型;保护区的划定原则与方法,以及利用岩石土壤对水污染的过滤净化能力或者水体自然净化功能,分区分级保护和利用水源保护区的实用哲学。本文还描述了全流域生态系统保护与水源保护区的关系,东德与西德水源保护工作的差距。