地理学报(英文版)

Journal of Geographical Sciences ›› 2010, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (6): 848-860.doi: 10.1007/s11442-010-0815-4

• Climate and Environmental Change • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Response of runoff in the headwater region of the Yellow River to climate change and its sensitivity analysis

LAN Yongchao1,2,4, ZHAO Guohui2, ZHANG Yaonan1,2, WEN Jun2, HU Xinglin1,3, LIU Jinqi3, GU Minglin4, CHANG Junjie4, MA Jianhua4   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology and Integrated Basin Management, CAS, Lanzhou 730000, China;
    2. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou 730000, China;
    3. Hydrology and Water Resources Reconnaissance Bureau of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730000, China;
    4. Institute of the Yellow River Headwater of the Yellow River Conservancy Committee, Lanzhou 730030, China
  • Received:2009-07-16 Revised:2010-02-10 Online:2010-12-15 Published:2011-01-13
  • Supported by:

    Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.KZCX2-YW-328; No.J0930003/J0109; Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.907020011; No.INFO-115-C01-SDB2-03; National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.40777047; No.40675066

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Abstract:

Response of the runoff in the headwater region of the Yellow River to climate change and its sensibility are analyzed based on the measured data at the four hydrological stations and ten weather stations during the period 1959-2008. The result indicates that change of temperature in the region has an obvious corresponding relationship with global warming and the changes of annual average temperature in each subregion in the region have been presenting a fluctuant and rising state in the past 50 years. However the change of precipitation is more intricate than the change of temperature in the region because of the influences of the different geographical positions and environments in various areas, and the change of annual precipitation in the main runoff-producing area has been presenting a fluctuant and decreasing state in the past 50 years. And there is a remarkable nonlinear correlativity between runoff and precipitation and temperature in the region. The runoff in the region has been decreasing continuously since 1990 because the precipitation in the main runoff- producing area obviously decreases and the annual average temperature continuously rises. As a whole, the runoff in each subregion of the headwater region of the Yellow River is quite sensitive to precipitation change, while the runoff in the subregion above Jimai is more sensitive to temperature change than that in the others in the region, correspondingly.

Key words: the headwater region of the Yellow River, global warming, sensibility, response