Impacts of Climate Change and Land Use/Cover Change on Streamflow in Beichuan River Basin in Qinghai Province, China

Water

Jin Ding¹  Lan Cuo¹  Liqiao Liang¹  Zhe Liu¹  Qijiang Li²  Xisheng Liu²  Xuelian Ma³ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;Qinghai Bureau of Hydrology and Water Resources Survey, Xining 810001, China;Qinghai Meterological Bureau, Xining 810001, China;

关键词: climate change;    land use/cover change;    streamflow regime;    DHSVM;   

DOI  :  10.3390/w12041198

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Climate change (CC) and land use/cover change (LUCC) are the main drivers of streamflow change. In this study, the effects of CC and LUCC on streamflow regime as well as their spatial variability were examined by using the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) for the Beichuan River Basin in the northeast Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that CC increased annual and maximum streamflow in the upstream but decreased them in the downstream. CC also enhanced minimum streamflow in the whole river basin and advanced the occurrence of daily minimum streamflow. Temperature change exerted greater influence on streamflow regime than wind speed change did in most situations, but the impact of wind speed on streamflow reflected the characteristics of accumulative effects, which may require more attention in future, especially in large river basins. As for LUCC, cropland expansion and reservoir operation were the primary reasons for streamflow reduction. Cropland expansion contributed more to annual mean streamflow change, whereas reservoir operation greatly altered monthly streamflow pattern and extreme streamflow. Reservoir regulation also postponed the timing of minimum streamflow and extended durations of average, high, and low streamflow. Spatially, CC and LUCC played predominant roles in the upstream and the downstream, respectively.

【 授权许可】

Unknown