Cryosphere Water Resources Simulation and Service Function Evaluation in the Shiyang River Basin of Northwest China

Kailu Li,Rensheng Chen,Guohua Liu

doi:10.3390/w13020114

Abstract

Water is the most critical factor that restricts the economic and social development of arid regions. It is urgent to understand the impact on cryospheric changes of water resources in arid regions in western China under the background of global warming. A cryospheric basin hydrological model (CBHM) was used to simulate the runoff, especially for glaciers and snowmelt water supply, in the Shiyang River Basin (SRB). A cryosphere water resources service function model was proposed to evaluate the value of cryosphere water resources. The annual average temperature increased significantly (p > 0.05) from 1961 to 2016. The runoff of glacier and snowmelt water in the SRB decreased significantly. This reduction undoubtedly greatly weakens the runoff regulation function. The calculation and value evaluation of the amount of water resources in the cryosphere of Shiyang River Basin is helpful to the government for adjusting water structure to realize sustainable development.

Highlights

Six verification stations are evenly distributed in the Shiyang River Basin from west to east (Figure 2)
Our research found that the average annual precipitation in the seven small watersheds in the upper mountainous area of the Shiyang River Basin ranged from 420.5 to 734.4 mm
The climate change in the Shiyang River Basin and the response of cryosphere water resources to the change are the key points of this paper

Summary

Introduction

The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed the fact of global warming in the past 100 years and pointed out that the impact of human activities has been the main cause of climate warming since the mid-20th century [3] Much of this frozen world, the cryosphere, has been melting as a result of global warming [1]. Snow cover has shown a small increase trend in the WCRC between 1951 and 1997 [7] These changes will definitely affect the water cycle and yearly runoff variation in the cold alpine watershed [8,9,10,11,12].

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Discussion

Conclusion