Contrasting influences of human activities on hydrological drought regimes over China based on high-resolution simulations
Contrasting influences of human activities on hydrological drought regimes over China based on high-resolution simulations
How human activities have altered hydrological droughts (streamflow deficits) in China during the past five decades (1961–2016) is investigated using the latest version (v2.0) of PCR-GLOBWB model at high spatial resolution (~10 km). Although both human activities and climate variability have significant effects on river flows over China, there are large regional north-south contrasts. Over northern China, human activities generally intensify hydrological droughts. We find that human activities exacerbated drought deficit by about 70–200% from 2004 to 2015. In contrast, droughts over southern China are generally alleviated by human activities. For instance, irrigation and water management (such as reservoir operation and water abstraction) increase drought StDef (standardized drought deficit volume) by about 80% in the Yellow River (north) but reduce it by about 20% in the Yangtze River (south). Human activities slightly reduce drought deficit in the Yangtze River due to the combination of large reservoir storage and low ratio of agriculture consumption to abstracted irrigation water. In contrast, hydrological drought is aggravated in the semiarid Yellow River basin because of high water consumption from agricultural sectors. This study suggests that human activities have contrasting influences on hydrological drought characteristics in the northern (intensification) and southern (mitigation) parts of China. Therefore, it is critical to consider the variable roles of human activities on hydrological drought in China when developing mitigation and adaptation strategies.
drought mitigation, human water use and water management, hydrological drought, PCR-GLOBWB model
Yang, Xiaoli
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Zhang, Mengru
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He, Xiaogang
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Ren, Liliang
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Pan, Ming
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Yu, Xiaohan
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Wei, Zhongwang
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Sheffield, Justin
dd66575b-a4dc-4190-ad95-df2d6aaaaa6b
1 June 2020
Yang, Xiaoli
c9b6c6a8-77b0-4c7e-b681-9b11d73e392d
Zhang, Mengru
05e76651-c3a5-48d6-a963-f6e66a7c80f6
He, Xiaogang
5fd2fdc9-b14e-4010-8490-c02950d0a62a
Ren, Liliang
ff52e99b-e5e3-4def-8e13-32384335a2e0
Pan, Ming
10c372fa-0e0e-4eb5-b95b-06a8f9786fc8
Yu, Xiaohan
f269f1a6-0b43-4e23-beec-5339a978d110
Wei, Zhongwang
8c8a2714-1913-4deb-a440-827a382cc775
Sheffield, Justin
dd66575b-a4dc-4190-ad95-df2d6aaaaa6b
Yang, Xiaoli, Zhang, Mengru, He, Xiaogang, Ren, Liliang, Pan, Ming, Yu, Xiaohan, Wei, Zhongwang and Sheffield, Justin
(2020)
Contrasting influences of human activities on hydrological drought regimes over China based on high-resolution simulations.
Water Resources Research, 56 (6), [e2019WR025843].
(doi:10.1029/2019WR025843).
Abstract
How human activities have altered hydrological droughts (streamflow deficits) in China during the past five decades (1961–2016) is investigated using the latest version (v2.0) of PCR-GLOBWB model at high spatial resolution (~10 km). Although both human activities and climate variability have significant effects on river flows over China, there are large regional north-south contrasts. Over northern China, human activities generally intensify hydrological droughts. We find that human activities exacerbated drought deficit by about 70–200% from 2004 to 2015. In contrast, droughts over southern China are generally alleviated by human activities. For instance, irrigation and water management (such as reservoir operation and water abstraction) increase drought StDef (standardized drought deficit volume) by about 80% in the Yellow River (north) but reduce it by about 20% in the Yangtze River (south). Human activities slightly reduce drought deficit in the Yangtze River due to the combination of large reservoir storage and low ratio of agriculture consumption to abstracted irrigation water. In contrast, hydrological drought is aggravated in the semiarid Yellow River basin because of high water consumption from agricultural sectors. This study suggests that human activities have contrasting influences on hydrological drought characteristics in the northern (intensification) and southern (mitigation) parts of China. Therefore, it is critical to consider the variable roles of human activities on hydrological drought in China when developing mitigation and adaptation strategies.
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Accepted/In Press date: 22 April 2020
Published date: 1 June 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program under Grant 2016YFA0601504 approved by Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China and the National Science Foundation of China (Grant 51579066). The authors are grateful to the Editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This study complies with the AGU data policy. Meteorological data are available at China Meteorological Data Service Center ( http://data.cma.cn/ ). Data on abstraction water from groundwater and surface water, irrigation water and irrigation return water, and storage capacity of all reservoirs in Yellow River and Yangtze River were collected from the water resources bulletins of the Yellow River and Yangtze River, which can be downloaded from Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC, http://www.yrcc.gov.cn/ ) and Changjiang Water Resources Commission (CWRC, http://www.cjw.gov.cn/ ).
Publisher Copyright:
©2020. The Authors.
Keywords:
drought mitigation, human water use and water management, hydrological drought, PCR-GLOBWB model
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Local EPrints ID: 474361
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/474361
ISSN: 0043-1397
PURE UUID: 69631798-87e3-4181-bcb5-a3af7de931e0
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Date deposited: 20 Feb 2023 18:13
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:06
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Contributors
Author:
Xiaoli Yang
Author:
Mengru Zhang
Author:
Xiaogang He
Author:
Liliang Ren
Author:
Ming Pan
Author:
Xiaohan Yu
Author:
Zhongwang Wei
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