Wenchao Sun

Estimating daily time series of streamflow using hydrological model calibrated based on satellite observations of river water surface width: Toward real world applications.

Lacking observation data for calibration constrains applications of hydrological models to estimate daily time series of streamflow. Recent improvements in remote sensing enable detection of river water-surface width from satellite observations, making possible the tracking of streamflow from space. In this study, a method calibrating hydrological models using river width derived from remote sensing is demonstrated through application to the ungauged Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar. Generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) is selected as a tool for automatic calibration and uncertainty analysis. Of 50,000 randomly generated parameter sets, 997 are identified as behavioral, based on comparing model simulation with satellite observations. The uncertainty band of streamflow simulation can span most of 10-year average monthly observed streamflow for moderate and high flow conditions. Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency is 95.7% for the simulated streamflow at the 50% quantile. These results indicate that application to the target basin is generally successful. Beyond evaluating the method in a basin lacking streamflow data, difficulties and possible solutions for applications in the real world are addressed to promote future use of the proposed method in more ungauged basins.

Influences of Climate Change on Water Resources Availability in Jinjiang Basin, China

The influences of climate change on water resources availability in Jinjiang Basin, China, were assessed using the Block-wise use of the TOPmodel with the Muskingum-Cunge routing method (BTOPMC) distributed hydrological model. The ensemble average of downscaled output from sixteen GCMs (General Circulation Models) for A1B emission scenario (medium CO2 emission) in the 2050s was adopted to build regional climate change scenario. The projected precipitation and temperature data were used to drive BTOPMC for predicting hydrological changes in the 2050s. Results show that evapotranspiration will increase in most time of a year. Runoff in summer to early autumn exhibits an increasing trend, while in the rest period of a year it shows a decreasing trend, especially in spring season. From the viewpoint of water resource availability, it is indicated that it has the possibility that water resources may not be sufficient to fulfill irrigation water demand in the spring season and one possible solution is to store more water in the reservoir in previous summer.

Development and Interpretation of New Sediment Rating Curve Considering the Effect of Vegetation Cover for Asian Basins

Suspended sediment concentration of a river can provide very important perspective on erosion or soil loss of one river basin ecosystem. The changes of land use and land cover, such as deforestation or afforestation, affect sediment yield process of a catchment through changing the hydrological cycle of the area. A sediment rating curve can describe the average relation between discharge and suspended sediment concentration for a certain location. However, the sediment load of a river is likely to be undersimulated from water discharge using least squares regression of log-transformed variables and the sediment rating curve does not consider temporal changes of vegetation cover. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can well be used to analyze the status of the vegetation cover well. Thus long time monthly NDVI data was used to detect vegetation change in the past 19 years in this study. Then monthly suspended sediment concentration and discharge from 1988 to 2006 in Laichau station were used to develop one new sediment rating curve and were validated in other Asian basins. The new sediment model can describe the relationship among sediment yield, streamflow, and vegetation cover, which can be the basis for soil conservation and sustainable ecosystem management.

Changes in Remotely Sensed Vegetation Growth Trend in the Heihe Basin of Arid Northwestern China.

The Heihe River Basin (HRB) is the second largest inland river basin in China, characterized by high diversity in geomorphology and irrigated agriculture in middle reaches. To improve the knowledge about the relationship between biotic and hydrological processes, this study used Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data (1982–2006) to analyze spatiotemporal variations in vegetation growth by using the Mann—Kendall test together with Sen’s slope estimator. The results indicate that 10.1% and 1.6% of basin area exhibit statistically significant (p < 0.05) upward and downward trends, and maximum magnitude is 0.066/10a and 0.026/10a, respectively. More specifically, an increasing trend was observed in the Qilian Mountains and Hexi Corridor and a decreasing trend detected in the transitional region between them. Increases in precipitation and temperature may be one possible reason for the changes of vegetation growth in the Qilian Mountains. And decreasing trend in transitional region may be driven by the changes in precipitation. Increases of irrigation contribute to the upward trend of NDVI for cropland in the Hexi Corridor, reflecting that agricultural development becomes more intensive. Our study demonstrates the complexity of the response of vegetation growth in the HRB to climate change and anthropogenic activities and correspondingly adopting mechanistic ecological models capable of describing both factors is favorable for reasonable predictions of future vegetation growth. It is also indicated that improving irrigation water use efficiency is one practical strategy to balance water demand between human and natural ecosystems in the HRB.

The impacts of climate change on water resources in the Second Songhua River Basin, China

The Northeast China Plain is one of the main grain growing regions in China. Due to the high latitude and black soil ecological system, the crop growth in there is vulnerable to climate change, which makes it important to evaluate the influences of climate change on water resources. In this study, the influences of climate change on water resources of a typical basin in northeast China, the Second Songhua River Basin were assessed using the SWAT model. Ensemble downscaled output from sixteen GCMs for A1B emission scenario in 2050s was adopted as the regional climate scenario and was used to drive SWAT model to predict hydrological changes. The prediction shows that mean evapotranspiration of whole basin increases in most time of a year. Stream flow of Fuyu gauging station downstream this basin exhibits a decrease trend from April to June, November and December, and increases in the remaining period of the year. It is indicated that water resources may not be sufficient in spring for irrigation and the possibility of flood in summer may increases, indicating countermeasures should be made to ensure agricultural water use and prevent possible damages of flood on crop.

Analysis of vegetation changes along the roadsides based on remote sensing

By using the RapidEye images of the Xianxun Highway in 2010 and 2011, two monitoring indices, the vegetation area and the vegetation coverage along the roadsides of highway, were estimated. Then the region being influenced by highway construction was determined according to the changing of indices with different buffer distance. The results indicate that during the period of Xianxun Highway construction, vegetation area changes are not significant in general and the region that vegetation coverage decreased is located in both roadsides of the highway. Considering the changing of the two indices with different buffer distance, the spatial extent for the region being influenced was up to 1000 meter at the both sides of the highway. The findings of this study could be useful for making effective strategies for avoiding the decrease in vegetation caused by highway constructions.