Effects of irrigation on water and energy balances in the Heihe River basin using VIC model under different irrigation scenarios

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Investigations of the water and energy balance in large river basins is one of the most important and contemporary issues, which is helpful to guide agricultural production and regional water resource management. Traditionally, water and energy balance have been assessed by field-scale experiments. However, it is not easy to find the effective ways for a whole region using limited observed data from on-farm experiments. In our study, the effects of irrigation water on surface water and energy balance fluxes are examined by employing the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model and irrigation scheme, for the upper and middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China. The model simulations are calibrated and validated using both streamflow records at a gauge station and eddy covariance observations at two stations. Besides, three irrigation scenarios are set as full irrigation, 90% and 75% of irrigation water requirement (IWR). The results showed the infiltration curve parameter (b) and the thickness of lower soil moisture layer (d2) are the most sensitive model parameters. Long-term irrigation activities lead to a greater evapotranspiration (or latent heat). With considering local irrigation water-using coefficient for the period 2001–2010 of 0.527, the total IWR is about 2.81 × 109 m3/year (the net IWR is about 1.48 × 109 m3/year). Compared with the no-irrigation baseline, the increase in latent heat flux (about 4.45 W/m2) or the significant decrease in Bowen Ratio (about 1.05) due to full irrigation activities is accompanied by a decrease in annual average surface temperature (about 0.076 °C) for the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin during the 10-year period.