Journal of Geographical Sciences ›› 2012, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (3): 441-450 .doi: 10.1007/s11442-012-0938-x

• Physical Geography • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Temporal and spatial changes of agricultural water requirements in the Lancang River Basin

GU Shixiang1,2, HE Daming3, CUI Yuanlai1, LI Yuanhua4   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China;
    2. Yunnan Institute for Investigation, Design and Research of Water Resources &|Hydropower Engineering, Kunming 650021, China;
    3. Asian International Rivers Center, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China;
    4. Department of Irrigation, Drainage and Rural Water Supply, MWR, Beijing 100053, China
  • Received:2011-10-30 Revised:2012-02-10 Online:2012-06-15 Published:2012-05-04
  • Contact: He Daming, Professor, E-mail: dmhe@ynu.edu.cn E-mail:dmhe@ynu.edu.cn
  • About author:Gu Shixiang (1972-), Ph.D and Professor, specialized in research on agricultural water-saving irrigation. E-mail: gushxang@qq.com
  • Supported by:

    National Key Technologies R&D Program of China during the 12th Five-Year Plan Period, No.2010BAC09B07; Technical Experts Training Projects of Yunnan Province, No.2011CI092

Abstract:

Based on the data of eight meteorological stations from the 1950s to 2007, current cropping patterns, field water moisture management, we use the Mann-Kendall and the Rescaled Range Analysis methods to research the changes of humidity and crop irrigation water requirements in the Lancang River Basin. The results show that the annual and dry season average temperatures significantly increased, and the dry season rainfall increased while wet season rainfall decreased. Evaportranspiration (ET0) increased during both dry and wet seasons at all stations except Dali, Jianchuan and Gengma, and the aridity-humidity index decreased at most of the stations. The turning points of weather factors, ET0, the aridity- humidity index, paddy irrigation requirements and total agricultural water requirements occurred from the 1960s to the 1990s. The spatial changing tendency of paddy irrigation quota increased with the increase of altitude and latitude, and the correlation coefficients are 0.513 and 0.610, respectively. The maximum value is observed in Weixi, while the minimum in Mengla.

Key words: agricultural irrigation quota, Lancang River, the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region