Arid Zone Research ›› 2020, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (5): 1105-1115.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2020.05.02

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Study of evapotranspiration estimation and drought characteristics of watershed in low coteau area of Hexi inland river

CHENG Wen-ju1, 2, XI Hai-yang1, SI Jian-hua1, LI Ai-lin3   

  1. (1. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences Key laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Alxa Desert Eco-和ydrological Experimental Research Station, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China; 2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; 3. Grassland workstation of Alxa Right Banner, Alxa 750306, Inner Mongolia, China)
  • Online:2020-09-15 Published:2020-12-16

Abstract: In order to reveal the evapotranspiration and drought characteristics of typical small watershed in low coteau area of Hexi inland river in the arid regions of northwest China, the Xitugou watershed in Dunhuang is used as an example to calculate the potential evapotranspiration of eight observation sites by Penman-Monteith formula based on the conventional meteorological data. On this basis, the actual evapotranspiration of each observation station was calculated by using the method of dual crop coefficient, which was based on NDVI, and then the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index SPEI of the watershed was calculated. The results show that the annual potential evapotranspiration and actual evapotranspiration are 978 mm and 258 mm, respectively. From the upper reaches to the lower reaches, with the decrease of altitude, the evapotranspiration shows a different degree of increase; the duration of drought in the lower reaches of the basin is long, and the whole growth season will have different degrees of drought, autumn is the main season of drought; the precipitation in the upper reaches of the watershed is greater than the actual evapotranspiration, the actual evapotranspiration of middle and lower reaches is greater than precipitation; the Kc value of the crop coefficient calculated by the NDVI has good applicability in the estimation of actual evapotranspiration, and the drought index SPEI is more advantageous than SPI and PDSI in the drought assessment in the arid inland river basin of northwest in China. This study calculated the potential and actual evapotranspiration of the Xitugou watershed, evaluated the monthly and seasonal drought characteristics of the watershed, and provided guidance for the production and living water consumption of the watershed, especially in the middle and lower reaches. This research obtained the general disciplines to no data river in the low coteau area of the whole Hexi inland river.

Key words: Hexi inland rivers, evapotranspiration, drought index, Xitugou watershed