Attribution of runoff changes in the main tributaries of the middle Yellow River, China, based on the Budyko model with a time-varying parameter

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Li, H., Shi, C, Sun, P, Zhang, Y. and Collins, A. L. 2021. Attribution of runoff changes in the main tributaries of the middle Yellow River, China, based on the Budyko model with a time-varying parameter. Catena. 206 (105557). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.105557

AuthorsLi, H., Shi, C, Sun, P, Zhang, Y. and Collins, A. L.
Abstract

Discerning the controlling factors of spatial and temporal changes in runoff is critical for water resources management. This study investigated runoff changes and related them to climate change and human activities in 14 sub-catchments of the middle Yellow River basin, China. The spatio-temporal variations in contributions of factors to runoff change were examined using a Budyko-based framework with a time-varying catchment characteristic parameter n in a 9-year moving window and by a comparison of northern and southern subcatchments. The results show that runoff changes induced by climate change had an increasing trend firstly and then gradually decreased over the period 1982–2015, whereas human activities associated with soil and water conservation measures had a greater impact in the northern parts of the study area. We found that the parameter n in Choudhury-Yang’s equation is significantly correlated to climatic and artificial factors. The influence of climatic factors on runoff includes changes both in hydrological inputs and catchment characteristics while the impacts of artificial factors are mainly achieved by the alteration of catchment characteristics. In addition to vegetation cover, the engineering measures for soil and water conservation, mainly including terraces and check-dams, played an important role in runoff reduction in the middle Yellow River basin. Inclusion of such features is therefore important when undertaking runoff attribution analysis.

KeywordsRunoff change; Climate change; Vegetation cover; Soil and water conservation measures; Budyko model
Year of Publication2021
JournalCatena
Journal citation206 (105557)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.105557
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.105557
Open accessPublished as green open access
FunderNational Natural Science Foundation of China
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funder project or code41671004, 41971008
S2N - Soil to Nutrition - Work package 3 (WP3) - Sustainable intensification - optimisation at multiple scales
Accepted author manuscript
Supplemental file
Output statusE-publication ahead of print
Publication dates
PrintNov 2021
Online30 Jun 2021
Publication process dates
Accepted20 Jun 2021
PublisherElsevier Science Bv
ISSN0341-8162

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