Effects of Cryospheric Change on Alpine Hydrology: Combining a Model With Observations in the Upper Reaches of the Hei River, China

Abstract

AbstractCryospheric changes have great effects on alpine hydrology, but these effects are still unclear owing to rare observations and suitable models in the western cold regions of China. Based on long‐term field observations in the western cold regions of China, a cryospheric basin hydrological model was proposed to evaluate the cryospheric effects on streamflow in the upper Hei River basin (UHR), and the relationship between the cryosphere and streamflow was further discussed with measured data. The Norwegian Earth System Model outputs were chosen to project future streamflow under scenarios Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP)2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. The cryospheric basin hydrological model results were well validated by the measured precipitation, streamflow, evapotranspiration, soil temperature, glacier and snow cover area, and the water balance of land cover in the UHR. The moraine‐talus region contributed most of the runoff (60%), even though it made up only about 20% of the area. On average, glacier and snow cover, respectively, contributed 3.5% and 25.4% of the fresh water to the streamflow in the UHR between 1960 and 2013. Because of the increased air temperature (2.9°C/54a) and precipitation (69.2 mm/54a) over the past 54 years, glacial and snowmelt runoff increased by 9.8% and 12.1%, respectively. The increase in air temperature brought forward the snowmelt flood peak and increased the winter flow due to permafrost degradation. Glaciers may disappear in the near future because of their small size, but snowmelt would increase due to increases in snowfall in the higher mountainous areas, and the basin runoff would increase slightly in the future.