Abstract
Abstract This paper focuses on determining the spatial and temporal characteristics of the sensitivity coefficients (SCs) between potential evapotranspiration (ET0) and key climatic factors across the Shiyang River Basin (SYRB) from 1981 to 2015. Penman–Monteith equation and a sensitivity analysis were used to calculate ET0 and the SCs for key climatic factors. Sen's slope was used to analyze the observed series. According to the results, the sensitivity significances were in the order of relative humidity (RH) > net solar radiation (NSR) > wind speed (WS) > maximum air temperature (Tmax) > minimum air temperature (Tmin). The SCs for the RH and NSR were larger in the upper mountainous region, while the other three coefficients were larger in the middle and lower reaches. All five climatic factors for the ET0 SCs showed increasing trends in the mountainous region, and the Tmax, WS and RH SCs increased in the middle and lower reaches. Over the past 35 years, the change in ET0 was dominated by the air temperature (T), RH and NSR, and the increase in ET0 during the studied period was mainly due to the increases in T and NSR.
Highlights
Potential evapotranspiration (ET0) refers to the actual evapotranspiration (AET) under full water supply conditions and is an important indicator of regional evaporation potential (Guo et al )
Zheng & Wang ( ) used a global sensitivity analysis method to study the sensitivities of ET0 to climate variables in China; the results showed that the spatial variation in the sensitivity varied seasonally and that stations at low latitudes were more sensitive to the net solar radiation (NSR) and less sensitive to T than those at high latitudes
The results show that the values of Tmax, Tmin, NSR and ET0 in the middle and lower reaches were higher than that in the upper mountainous reaches; Tmax and Tmin fluctuated significantly in the middle and lower reaches; the oasis areas are greatly affected by human activities, with low vegetation coverage and more sensitive to climate change
Summary
Potential evapotranspiration (ET0) refers to the actual evapotranspiration (AET) under full water supply conditions and is an important indicator of regional evaporation potential (Guo et al ). The results show that the values of Tmax, Tmin, NSR and ET0 in the middle and lower reaches were higher than that in the upper mountainous reaches; Tmax and Tmin fluctuated significantly in the middle and lower reaches; the oasis areas are greatly affected by human activities, with low vegetation coverage and more sensitive to climate change.
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