Songbing Zou

Sensitivity of the reference evapotranspiration to key climatic variables during the growing season in the Ejina oasis northwest China

The standardized FAO56 Penman-Monteith model, which has been the most reasonable method in both humid and arid climatic conditions, provides reference evapotranspiration (ETo) estimates for planning and efficient use of agricultural water resources. And sensitivity analysis is important in understanding the relative importance of climatic variables to the variation of reference evapotranspiration. In this study, a non-dimensional relative sensitivity coefficient was employed to predict responses of ETo to perturbations of four climatic variables in the Ejina oasis northwest China. A 20-year historical dataset of daily air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and daily sunshine duration in the Ejina oasis was used in the analysis. Results have shown that daily sensitivity coefficients exhibited large fluctuations during the growing season, and shortwave radiation was the most sensitive variable in general for the Ejina oasis, followed by air temperature, wind speed and relative humidity. According to this study, the response of ETo can be preferably predicted under perturbation of air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and shortwave radiation by their sensitivity coefficients.

Exploring scale‐dependent ecohydrological responses in a large endorheic river basin through integrated surface water‐groundwater modeling

Ecohydrological processes in a water-limited environment are sensitive to both climate conditions and human activities, but the response mechanisms have rarely been explored for large endorheic river basins via an integrated modeling approach. This study established an integrated surface water-groundwater model for the Heihe River Basin (HRB), Chinas second largest endorheic river basin, using GSFLOW as the modeling platform. Evapotranspiration (ET) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) data independently derived from remote sensing products were compared and correlated, respectively, with the modeling results. Scale-dependent interrelationships among ecological, hydrological, and human-impact (i.e., diversion and pumping) variables were revealed through multiple regression analyses. Major study findings include: (1) the independent ET and LAI data enabled the modeler to crosscheck the modeling results from a unique angle not possible with conventional groundwater and streamflow observations; (2) controlling factors for the temporal variability of ET and LAI exhibit notable scale-dependence, reflecting distinctive climate, and human impacts on different land covers; and (3) there exists an intricate linkage between the hydrological regimes in the lower HRB and the middle HRB, essentially equivalent to a tradeoff between the ecosystem health of the lower HRB and the sustainable development of the middle HRB. Overall, the integrated modeling assisted by the independent ET and LAI data has provided a coherent understanding on the regional water cycle, and led to new insights on tackling the existing water conflicts in HRB.

Simulation of hydrological processes of mountainous watersheds in inland river basins: taking the Heihe Mainstream River as an example

The hydrological processes of mountainous watersheds in inland river basins are complicated. It is absolutely significant to quantify mountainous runoff for social, economic and ecological purposes. This paper takes the mountainous watershed of the Heihe Mainstream River as a study area to simulate the hydrological processes of mountainous watersheds in inland river basins by using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model. SWAT simulation results show that both the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency and the determination coefficient values of the calibration period (January 1995 to December 2002) and validation period (January 2002 to December 2009) are higher than 0.90, and the percent bias is controlled within ±5%, indicating that the simulation results are satisfactory. According to the SWAT performance, we discussed the yearly and monthly variation trends of the mountainous runoff and the runoff components. The results show that from 1996 to 2009, an indistinctive rising trend was observed for the yearly mountainous runoff, which is mainly recharged by lateral flow, and followed by shallow groundwater runoff and surface runoff. The monthly variation demonstrates that the mountainous runoff decreases slightly from May to July, contrary to other months. The mountainous runoff is mainly recharged by shallow groundwater runoff in January, February, and from October to December, by surface runoff in March and April, and by lateral flow from May to September.

Hydrochemical and hydrological processes in the different landscape zones of alpine cold region in China

Investigation of water sources and flow pathways is crucial to understand and evaluate the characteristics of surface water and groundwater systems. This article aims to identify the hydrochemical and hydrological processes in different landscape zones based on hydrochemical analyses of various samples, including samples from glacier, snow, frozen soil meltwater, surface water, groundwater, and precipitation, in the alpine cold region of China. Hydrochemical tracers indicated that chemical compositions are characterized by the Ca-HCO3 type in the glacier-snow zone; the Mg-Ca-SO4 type in the alpine cold desert zone; the Ca-HCO3-SO4 type in the marsh meadow zone; the Ca-Mg-HCO3 type in the alpine shrub zone; and the Ca-Na-SO4 type in the mountain grassland zone. An end-member mixing model was used for hydrograph separation. The results showed that the Mafengou River in the wet season was recharged by groundwater in the alpine cold desert and alpine shrub zones (67%), surface runoff in the glacier-snow zone (11%), surface runoff in the alpine cold desert zone (8%), thawed water from frozen soil in the marsh meadow and mountain grassland zones (9%), and direct precipitation on the river channel (5%). This study suggests that precipitation from the whole catchment yielded little direct surface runoff; precipitation was mostly transformed into groundwater or interflow and was then concentrated into the river channel. This study provides a scientific basis for evaluation and management of water resources in the basin.

Hydrologic Responses to Land Use Change in the Loess Plateau: Case Study in the Upper Fenhe River Watershed

We applied an integrated approach to investigate the impacts of land use and land cover (LULC) changes on hydrology at different scales in the Loess Plateau of China. Hydrological modeling was conducted for the LULC maps from remote sensing images at two times in the Upper Fenhe River watershed using the SWAT model. The main LULC changes in this watershed from 1995 to 2010 were the transformation of farmland into forests, grassland, and built-up land. The simulation results showed that forested land contributed more than any other LULC class to water yield, but built-up land had most impact due to small initial loss and infiltration. At basin scale, a comparison of the simulated hydrological components of two LULC maps showed that there were slight increases in average annual potential evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, and water yield, but soil water decreased, between the two intervals. In subbasins, obvious LULC changes did not have clear impacts on hydrology, and the impacts may be affected by precipitation conditions. By linking a hydrological model to remote sensing image analysis, our approach of quantifying the impacts of LULC changes on hydrology at different scales provide quantitative information for stakeholders in making decisions for land and water resource management.