Journal of Geographical Sciences >
Variations of temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period and its effect on runoff in the mountainous areas of Northwest China
Received date: 2012-08-29
Revised date: 2012-10-09
Online published: 2013-02-07
Water resources in the arid land of Northwest China mainly derive from snow and glacier melt water in mountainous areas. So the study on onset, cessation, length, temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period is of great significance for allocating limited water resources reasonably and taking scientific water resources management measures. Using daily mean temperature and precipitation from 8 mountainous weather stations over the period 1960?2010 in the arid land of Northwest China, this paper analyzes climate change of snowmelt period and its spatial variations and explores the sensitivity of runoff to length, temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period. The results show that mean onset of snowmelt period has shifted 15.33 days earlier while mean ending date has moved 9.19 days later. Onset of snowmelt period in southern Tianshan Mountains moved 20.01 days earlier while that in northern Qilian Mountains moved only 10.16 days earlier. Mean precipitation and air temperature increased by 47.3 mm and 0.857℃ in the mountainous areas of Northwest China, respectively. The precipitation of snowmelt period increased the fastest, which is observed in southern Tianshan Mountains, up to 65 mm, and the precipitation and temperature in northern Kunlun Mountains increased the slowest, an increase of 25 mm and 0.617℃, respectively, while the temperature in northern Qilian Mountains increased the fastest, increasing by 1.05℃. The annual runoff is also sensitive to the variations of precipitation and temperature of snowmelt period, because variation of precipitation induces annual runoff change by 7.69% while change of snowmelt period temperature results in annual runoff change by 14.15%.
LI Baofu, CHEN Yaning, CHEN Zhongsheng, LI Weihong, ZHANG Baohuan . Variations of temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period and its effect on runoff in the mountainous areas of Northwest China[J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2013 , 23(1) : 17 -30 . DOI: 10.1007/s11442-013-0990-1
Beebee R A, Manga M, 2004. Variation in the relationship between snowmelt runoff in Oregon and ENSO and PDO. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 40(4): 1011?1024.
Brohan P, Kennedy J J, Harris I et al., 2006. Uncertainty estimates in regional and global observed temperature changes: A new data set from 1850. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111(D12), doi: 10.1029/2005JD006548.
Burns D A, Klaus J, McHale M R, 2007. Recent climate trends and implications for water resources in the Catskill Mountain region, New York, USA. Journal of Hydrology, 336(1/2): 155?170.
Butt M J, Bilal M, 2011. Application of snowmelt runoff model for water resource management. Hydrological Processes, 25(24): 3735?3747.
Chen X, 2010. Physical Geography of Arid Land in China. Beijing: Science Press, 226?289. (in Chinese)
Chen Y N, Xu Z X, 2005. Plausible impact of global climate change on water resources in the Tarim River Basin. Science in China (Series D): 2005, 48: 65?73.
Clow D W, 2010. Changes in the timing of snowmelt and streamflow in Colorado: A response to recent warming. Journal of Climate, 23(9): 2293?2306.
Fritze H, Stewart I T, Pebesma E, 2011. Shifts in western North American snowmelt runoff regimes for the recent warm decades. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 12(5): 989?1006.
Fucik P, Kaplicka M, Kvitek T et al., 2012. Dynamics of stream water quality during snowmelt and rainfall-runoff events in a small agricultural catchment. Clean-Soil Air Water, 40(2): 154?163.
Hock R, Rees G., Williams M W et al., 2006. Preface: Contribution from glaciers and snow cover to runoff from mountains in different climates. Hydrological Processes, 20(10): 2089?2090.
Hodgkins G A, Dudley R W, 2006. Changes in the timing of winter-spring streamflows in eastern North America, 1913?2002. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(6), doi: 10.1029/2005GL025593.
Hu S S, Liu C M, Zheng H X et al., 2012. Assessing the impacts of climate variability and human activities on streamflow in the water source area of Baiyangdian Lake. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 22(5): 895?905.
Immerzeel W W, van Beek L P H, Bierkens M F P, 2010. Climate change will affect the Asian Water Towers. Science, 328: 1382?1385.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Solomon et al. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 996.
Jiang F Q, Hu R J, Zhang Y W et al., 2011. Variations and trends of onset, cessation and length of climatic growing season over Xinjiang, NW China. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 106: 449?458.
Langlois J L, Johnson D W, Mehuys G R, 2005. Suspended sediment dynamics associated with snowmelt runoff in a small mountain stream of Lake Tahoe (Nevada). Hydrological Processes, 19(18): 3569?3580.
Lilbaek G, Pomeroy J W, 2008. Ion enrichment of snowmelt runoff water caused by basal ice formation. Hydrological Processes, 22(15): 2758?2766.
Liu L L, Liu Z F, Ren X Y et al., 2011. Hydrological impacts of climate change in the Yellow River Basin for the 21st century using hydrological model and statistical downscaling model. Quaternary International, 244(2): 211?220.
Lowry C S, Deems J S, Loheide S P et al., 2010. Linking snowmelt-derived fluxes and groundwater flow in a high elevation meadow system, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. Hydrological Processes, 24(20): 2821?2833.
Lu A F, Jia S F, Yan H Y et al., 2009. Temporal variations and trend analysis of the snowmelt runoff timing across the source regions of the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Lancang River. Resources Science, 31(10): 1704?1709. (in Chinese)
Lyon S W, Laudon H, Seibert J et al., 2010. Controls on snowmelt water mean transit times in northern boreal catchments. Hydrological Processes, 24(12): 1672?1684.
Ma H, Yang D W, Gao B et al., 2010. Impact of climate variability and human activity on streamflow decrease in the Miyun Reservoir catchment. Journal of Hydrology, 389(3/4): 317?324.
Peterson T C, Folland C K, 2000. Climate change detection: What can a small working group do about it? Clivar Exchanges, 5: 24-25.
Shi Y F, Liu C H, Wang Z T, 2005. Concise Glacier Inventory of China. Shanghai: Shanghai Popular Science Press, 159?170. (in Chinese)
Stewart I T, Cayan D, Dettinger M D, 2004. Changes in snowmelt runoff timing in western North America under a ‘business as usual’ climate change scenario. Climatic Change, 62(1?3): 217?232.
Sui J, Koehler G., Krol F, 2010. Characteristics of rainfall, snowmelt and runoff in the headwater region of the Main River Watershed in Germany. Water Resources Management, 24(10): 2167?2186.
Tahir A A, Chevallier P, Arnaud Y et al., 2011. Modeling snowmelt-runoff under climate scenarios in the Hunza River basin, Karakoram Range, northern Pakistan. Journal of Hydrology, 409(1/2): 104?117.
Xu J X, 2011. Variation in annual runoff of the Wudinghe River as influenced by climate change and human activity. Quaternary International, 244(2): 230?237.
Zhang X Q, Sun Y, Mao W F et al., 2010. Regional response of temperature change in the arid regions of China to global warming. Arid Zone Research, 27(4): 592?599.
Zhang Y Y, Zhang S F, Zhai X Y et al., 2012. Runoff variation and its response to climate change in the Three Rivers Source Region. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 22(5): 781?794.
Zheng H X, Zhang L, Zhu R R et al., 2009. Responses of streamflow to climate and land surface change in the headwaters of the Yellow River Basin. Water Resource Research, 45, W00A19, doi: 10.1029/2007WR006665.
/
| 〈 |
|
〉 |