Abstract
Abstract. This study explores the teleconnection of two climatic patterns, namely the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), with hydrological processes over the Pearl River basin in southern China, particularly on a sub-basin-scale basis. The Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model is used to simulate the daily hydrological processes over the basin for the study period 1952–2000, and then, using the simulation results, the time series of the monthly runoff and soil moisture anomalies for its ten sub-basins are aggregated. Wavelet analysis is performed to explore the variability properties of these time series at 49 timescales ranging from 2 months to 9 yr. Use of the wavelet coherence and rank correlation method reveals that the dominant variabilities of the time series of runoff and soil moisture are basically correlated with IOD. The influences of ENSO on the terrestrial hydrological processes are mainly found in the eastern sub-basins. The teleconnections between climatic patterns and hydrological variability also serve as a reference for inferences on the occurrence of extreme hydrological events (e.g., floods and droughts).
Highlights
Regional responses of hydrological processes to climate variability are often different from one river basin to another (Eltahir, 1996)
Following up on the studies by Niu and Chen (2009, 2010), the present study evaluates the sub-basin hydrological processes over the Pearl River basin in response to two large-scale climatic patterns, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), in order to improve our understanding of basin-featured flood and drought occurrences
We attempt to address the following specific question: are there some characteristic periods and variability processes of different hydrological variables within the Pearl River basin that may be related to climatic patterns, which may be a possible trigger for major floods or droughts in the basin? We address this question through (1) investigation of the possible variability linkages between the runoff/soil moisture and the above two climatic patterns, and (2) discussion of the underlying causes for extreme hydrological events from this perspective
Summary
Regional responses of hydrological processes to climate variability are often different from one river basin to another (Eltahir, 1996). R. Zhang et al (2008) for nine stations in the Pearl River basin, performed only on annual timescale Despite these developments, it must be recognized that these studies were mainly performed based on observed data, the exceptions being those of Niu and Chen (2009, 2010). Following up on the studies by Niu and Chen (2009, 2010), the present study evaluates the sub-basin hydrological processes over the Pearl River basin in response to two large-scale climatic patterns, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), in order to improve our understanding of basin-featured flood and drought occurrences. We attempt to address the following specific question: are there some characteristic periods and variability processes of different hydrological variables within the Pearl River basin that may be related to climatic patterns, which may be a possible trigger for major floods or droughts (i.e., extreme hydrological events) in the basin?
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