Identification of Streamflow Response to Climate Change and Human Activities in the Wei River Basin, China

Depeng Zuo, Zongxue Xu (), Wei Wu, Jie Zhao and Fangfang Zhao

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2014, vol. 28, issue 3, 833-851

Abstract: In this study, the calibration and validation period with stable underlying surface conditions was determined by using a statistically significant change point of the annual streamflow in several catchments of the Wei River basin (WRB). The effects of climate changes and human activities on streamflow were estimated by using the sensitivity-based method and the dynamic water balance model, respectively. The contributions of climate effects and human activities effects on streamflow were also investigated. The results showed that almost all the catchments exhibited significant decreasing trend of streamflow in the early 1990s. The streamflow was more sensitive to changes in precipitation than changes in potential evapotranspiration (PET). Effects of climate due to changes in precipitation and PET are weak in Linjiacun, Weijiabao and Xianyang catchments, while it is strong in the catchments controlled by other hydrological stations, accounting for more than 40 % of streamflow reduction. Effects of human activities on streamflow in Linjiacun, Weijiabao, Xianyang and Zhangjiashan catchments accounted for more than 50 % of the streamflow reduction. The study provides scientific foundation to understand the causes of water resources scarcity and useful information for the planning and management of water resources in the ecological fragile arid area. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Climate change; Human activities; Streamflow; Response; Wei River (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-014-0519-0 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:3:p:833-851

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-014-0519-0

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().