Monthly hydrological and daily meteorological data were collected across the Three-Rivers Headwater Region (TRHR) over a period from 1956 to 2012. Modified Mann–Kendall tests, flow duration curves, and correlation statistics were performed to identify long-term trend and interrelationships between these hydro-meteorological variables and to analyse the factors influencing runoff. The results of these analyses are as follows. (1) In the last 57 years, the annual runoff in the Lancang River Basin (LRB) and the Yangtze River Basin (YARB) has shown an increasing trend, while the runoff in the main stream of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) was slightly reduced. (2) In the YRB and the YARB, both the high and low flows decreased and increased together, respectively, whereas in the LRB, the high flow decreased while the low flow increased. (3) In the TRHR, the proportional change in annual runoff due to climate variability accounted for >85% of the observed change, while anthropogenic activity and glacier melting was responsible for ∼15%. The contribution of anthropogenic activity in the YRB and LRB was higher than that in YARB due to the greater anthropogenic activity. The contribution of glacier melting in the YARB and LRB were obviously higher than that in YRB due to the higher densities of glaciers.
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Research Article|
February 08 2016
Spatiotemporal variability of streamflow and attribution in the Three-Rivers Headwater Region, northwest China
Chong Jiang;
1College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China and Joint Center for Global Change Studies, Beijing 100875, China
2State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China and Key Laboratory of Regional Eco-Process and Function Assessment and State Environment Protection, Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
E-mail: [email protected]
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Daiqing Li;
Daiqing Li
2State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China and Key Laboratory of Regional Eco-Process and Function Assessment and State Environment Protection, Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
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Yanni Gao;
Yanni Gao
2State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China and Key Laboratory of Regional Eco-Process and Function Assessment and State Environment Protection, Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
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Xianfeng Liu;
Xianfeng Liu
3College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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Wenfeng Liu;
Wenfeng Liu
4EAWAG, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Ueberlandstrasse 133, Duebendorf CH-8600, Switzerland
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Linbo Zhang
Linbo Zhang
2State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China and Key Laboratory of Regional Eco-Process and Function Assessment and State Environment Protection, Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
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Journal of Water and Climate Change (2016) 7 (3): 637–649.
Article history
Received:
March 21 2015
Accepted:
December 23 2015
Citation
Chong Jiang, Daiqing Li, Yanni Gao, Xianfeng Liu, Wenfeng Liu, Linbo Zhang; Spatiotemporal variability of streamflow and attribution in the Three-Rivers Headwater Region, northwest China. Journal of Water and Climate Change 1 September 2016; 7 (3): 637–649. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2016.047
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