Abstract
Due to the large amount of water resources stored in glaciers, permafrost, and lakes, the source region of the Yangtze River (SRYR) is of great importance for the overall basin water flow. For this purpose, a state of art review and calculations were made for the period 1957–2013 using observed hydrological and meteorological data with a water balance approach. Actual evapotranspiration was calculated and validated by empirical formulas. Water storage change analysis was conducted with uncertainty boundaries using a 10-year moving window. Results show that temperature, precipitation, and actual evapotranspiration in the SRYR increased by 0.34 °C, 11.4 mm, and 7.6 mm per decade, respectively (significant at 0.05 probability level). Runoff appears to have increased at a rate of 3.3 mm per decade. The SRYR water storage in total has not changed significantly during the period, although the moving average is mostly below zero. Based on the water balance equation, the increase in calculated evapotranspiration is mainly due to the significantly increasing temperature. This in combination with increasing precipitation leads to a relatively stable water storage during the study period. Correlation analyses show that precipitation dominates runoff during the warm season (May to October), while temperature anomalies dominate the runoff during the cold season (November to April). The influence of temperature on runoff seems to enhance during the winter period.
Highlights
Over the past century, global climate has undergone a significant warming [1]
Due to its great importance for water resources supply, climate change in the Tibet Plateau and its impacts are of great interest [2,3,4]
The aim of the paper is to perform an analysis of the temperature has a significant effect on water cycle components such as evaporation and water storage hydro-climatic components of the using the latest data, to perform water calculations in glaciers and permafrost, this source region of the Yangtze River (SRYR)
Summary
Global climate has undergone a significant warming [1]. Due to its great importance for water resources supply, climate change in the Tibet Plateau and its impacts are of great interest [2,3,4]. The average warming in the Tibet Plateau during the past 50 years has been stronger than in other regions on the same latitude [5]. The source region of the Yangtze River (SRYR), the longest river in China, is located in the center of the Tibet Plateau. As the hydrological cycle of the SRYR is similar to that of Antarctica, with comparably small inflow and outflow but a large quantity of stored water, it is important to study water balance changes due to climate change
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