Dominant climate factors influencing the Arctic runoff and association between the Arctic runoff and sea ice

By using the Arctic runoff data from R-ArcticNET V4.0 and ArcticRIMS, trends of four major rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean, whose climate factor plays an important role in determining the variability of the Arctic runoff, are investigated. The results show that for the past 30 years, the trend of the Arctic runoff is seasonally dependent. There is a significant trend in spring and winter and a significant decreasing trend in summer, leading to the reduced seasonal cycle. In spring, surface air temperature is the dominant factor influencing the four rivers. In summer, precipitation is the most important factor for Lena and Mackenzie, while snow cover is the most important factor for Yenisei and Ob. For Mackenzie, atmospheric circulation does play an important role for all the seasons, which is not the case for the Eurasian rivers. The authors further discuss the relationships between the Arctic runoff and sea ice. Significant negative correlation is found at the mouth of the rivers into the Arctic Ocean in spring, while significant positive correlation is observed just at the north of the mouths of the rivers into the Arctic in summer. In addition, each river has different relationship with sea ice in the eastern Greenland Sea.     

Numerical Simulation of Water Level Under Interaction Between Runoff and Estuarine Dynamics in Tidal Reach of the Yangtze River

The Yangtze Estuary, the largest estuary in China, is under an obvious interaction between runoff and astronomical tide. The research on the interaction is very important for the exploitation and utilization of water resources in this area. A horizontal 2D hydrodynamic numerical model is established and verified in the present study with the modeling range from Datong to the Yangtze Estuary. Based on the comparison of high water levels under the interaction between different runoff and estuarine dynamics, s...     

Runoff change of Naoli River in Northeast China in 1955–2009 and its influencing factors

Runoff change and trend of the Naoli River Basin were studied through the time series analysis using the data from the hydrological and meteorological stations. Time series of hydrological data were from 1957 to 2009 for Bao′an station, from 1955 to 2009 for Baoqing station, from 1956 to 2009 for Caizuizi station and from 1978 to 2009 for Hongqiling station. The influences of climate change and human activities on runoff change were investigated, and the causes of hydrological regime change were revealed. The seasonal runoff distribution of the Naoli River was extremely uneven, and the annual change was great. Overall, the annual runoff showed a significant decreasing trend. The annual runoff of Bao′an, Baoqing, and Caizuizi stations in 2009 decreased by 64.1%, 76.3%, and 84.3%, respectively, compared with their beginning data recorded. The wet and dry years of the Naoli River have changed in the study period. The frequency of wet year occurrence decreased and lasted longer, whereas that of dry year occurrence increased. The frequency of dry year occurrence increased from 25.0%-27.8% to 83.9%-87.5%. The years before the 1970s were mostly wet, whereas those after the 1970s were mostly dry. Precipitation reduction and land use changes contributed to the decrease in annual runoff. Rising temperature and water project construction have also contributed important effects on the runoff change of the Naoli River.     

The precipitation infiltration and runoff recharging experiment observation in the Taklimakan Desert

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塔里木河流域径流变化趋势及其对气候变化的响应

This paper has studied the change of streamflow and the impact of climatic variability conditions on regional hydrological cycle in the headwater of the Tarim River Basin. This study investigates possible causes of observed trends in streamflow in an environment which is highly variable in terms of atmospheric conditions, and where snow and ice melt play an important role in the natural hydrological regime. The discharge trends of three head streams have a significant increase trend from 1957 to 2002 with the Mann-Kendall test. Complex time-frequency distributions in the streamflow regime are demonstrated especially by Morlet wavelet analysis over 40 years. The purpose is to ascertain the nature of climatic factors spatial and temporal distribution, involved the use of EOF （Empirical Orthogonal Function） to compare the dominant temperature, precipitation and evaporation patterns from normally climatic records over the Tarim＇s headwater basin. It shows that the first principal component was dominated since the 1990s for temperature and precipitation, which identifies the significant ascending trend of spatial and temporal pattern characteristics under the condition of the global warming. An exponential correlation is highlighted between surface air temperature and mean river discharge monthly, so the regional runoff increases by 10%-16% when surface air temperature rises by 1 ℃. Results suggest that headwater basins are the most vulnerable environments from the point of view of climate change, because their watershed properties promote runoff feeding by glacier and snow melt water and their fundamental vulnerability to temperature changes affects rainfall, snowfall, and glacier and ice melt.     

黄土土壤结皮对产流临界雨强的影响分析

依据野外资料,从影响产流的各项因子出发,分析黄土高原典型区土壤结皮对产流临界雨强条件的影响,得出:在该区特殊的超渗产流方式下,土壤结皮降低入渗,使得产流时的临界雨强条件降低,因而大大提高了产流的可能性。但是,在实际情况下,雨强变异很大,应考虑不同雨强情况下土壤结皮对产流量的影响。而在室内条件下,各项因子均是可控的,一般情况下,雨强恒定,产流时的临界雨强条件降低,意味着产流提早,必然带来产流量的增加。     

基于集中度与集中期的径流年内分配研究

借鉴年降水量年内分配的向量法,描述径流年内分配的径流集中度和集中期,尝试提出一种计算河川径流年内分配不均匀性的定量新方法。实例研究表明,用月径流量计算的集中度比径流年内不均匀系数有更高的分辨能力和敏感性,用月径流量计算的集中期对应的月份与月径流最大值出现的实际月份完全一致,径流集中度、集中期能够充分定量地表征径流在年内分配的非均匀性。     

Precipitation‐runoff processes in Shimen hillslope micro‐catchment of Taihang Mountain,north China

Precipitation runoff is a critical hillslope hydrological process for downslope streamflow and piedmont/floodplain recharge. Shimen hillslope micro‐catchment is strategically located in the central foothill region of Taihang Mountains, where runoff is crucial for water availability in the piedmont corridors and floodplains of north China. This study analyzes precipitation‐runoff processes in the Shimen hillslope micro‐catchment for 2006–2008 using locally designed runoff collection systems. The study shows that slope length is a critical factor, next only to precipitation, in terms of runoff yield. Regression analysis also shows that runoff is related positively to precipitation, and negatively to slope length. Soil mantle in the study area is generally thin and is therefore not as critical a runoff factor as slope length. The study shows a significant difference between overland and subsurface runoff. However, that between the 0–10 and 10–20 cm subsurfaces is insignificant. Runoff hardly occurs under light rains (<10 mm), but is clearly noticeable under moderate‐to‐rainstorm events. In the hillslope catchment, vertical infiltration (accounting for 42–84% of the precipitation) dominates runoff processes in subsurface soils and weathered granite gneiss bedrock. A weak lateral flow (at even the soil/bedrock interface) and the generally small runoff suggest strong infiltration loss via deep percolation. This is critical for groundwater recharge in the downslope piedmont corridors and floodplains. This may enhance water availability, ease water shortage, avert further environmental degradation, and reduce the risk of drought/flood in the event of extreme weather conditions in the catchment and the wider north China Plain. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrological responses to climatic variability in a cold agricultural region

Extended severe dry and wet periods are frequently observed in the northern continental climate of the Canadian Prairies. Prairie streamflow is mainly driven by spring snowmelt of the winter snowpack, whilst summer rainfall is an important control on evapotranspiration and thus seasonality affects the hydrological response to drought and wet periods in complex ways. A field‐tested physically based model was used to investigate the influences of climatic variability on hydrological processes in this region. The model was set up to resolve agricultural fields and to include key cold regions processes. It was parameterized from local and regional measurements without calibration and run for the South Tobacco Creek basin in southern Manitoba, Canada. The model was tested against snow depth and streamflow observations at multiple scales and performed well enough to explore the impacts of wet and dry periods on hydrological processes governing the basin scale hydrological response. Four hydro‐climatic patterns with distinctive climatic seasonality and runoff responses were identified from differing combinations of wet/dry winter and summer seasons. Water balance analyses of these patterns identified substantive multiyear subsurface soil moisture storage depletion during drought (2001–2005) and recharge during a subsequent wet period (2009–2011). The fractional percentage of heavy rainfall days was a useful metric to explain the contrasting runoff volumes between dry and wet summers. Finally, a comparison of modeling approaches highlights the importance of antecedent fall soil moisture, ice lens formation during the snowmelt period, and peak snow water equivalent in simulating snowmelt runoff.