Arid Zone Research ›› 2022, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 1782-1792.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2022.06.08

• Land and Water Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Changes in runoff from major rivers and analysis of its causes in the Shule River Basin from 1956-2021

WANG Xueliang1,2,3(),CHEN Rensheng1(),LIU Junfeng1,HAN Chuntan1,3   

  1. 1. Qilian Alpine Ecology and Hydrology Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China
    2. Pingliang Hydrological Station of Gansu Province, Pingliang 744000, Gansu, China
    3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2022-06-13 Revised:2022-08-02 Online:2022-11-15 Published:2023-01-17
  • Contact: Rensheng CHEN E-mail:wangxueliang@nieer.ac.cn;crs2008@lzb.ac.cn

Abstract:

Based on the measured runoff from the hydrological stations of Shule River, Shiyou River, and Dang River from 1956 to 2021, as well as the meteorological station of Tuole and reanalyzed meteorological data, the characteristics of runoff changes of the three rivers and their causes were analyzed using Sen’s slope estimator and Mann-Kendall test. The results showed that the runoff changes of the three rivers showed an upward trend from 1956 to 2021, among which the Shule River and the Dang River showed significantly increasing trends, while the Shiyou River showed a non-significant increasing trend. The years of abrupt change for the three rivers were 1998, 2007, and 1982, respectively. The runoff increased significantly after the abrupt change, in which the Shule River increased by 60%, while the Shiyou River and the Dang River increased by approximately 20%. Runoff from the Shule River and Shiyou River was abundant during the study period after the 2000s, while runoff from the Dang River increased slowly after the 1980s and showed a historical abundance value in the early 2020s. The combined effect of increased fluctuating precipitation and accelerated glacier melting due to accelerated temperature rise after 1986 resulted in an increasing trend of both average annual and seasonal runoff for these three rivers.

Key words: Shule River Basin, runoff from mountainous areas, variation, causal analysis