Abstract
Abstract. Knowing the variations of precipitation at the basin scale is very important to study the impacts of climate change on water resources and hydrological processes. To achieve the temporal and spatial variations of precipitation on long time scales and some extreme indicators in the Jinsha River basin, some typical precipitation indices were analysed based on daily precipitation data for 1961–2010 for the research area. The results showed that AP had a certain increasing tendency without passing the significance test, while AP in the lower reach of the basin decreased slightly. PFS had no obvious changes, while MP through a year (except rainfall in September and December) had a slight increasing tendency. In addition, AP and PFS showed obvious spatial differences, and the higher rainfall area was located in the lower basin especially in the Hengduan Mountain area. LRD and MRD increased slightly in the upper and middle regions, while they decreased slightly in the lower basin. HRD increased over most of the whole basin, but it had a decreasing tendency in the headwater region and around Dege station but did not pass the significance test. DD and CDD in one year showed similar spatial change patterns and had an obvious decreasing tendency in the upper and middle basin, while they had an obvious increasing tendency in the lower basin. CWD almost decreased over the whole basin, and decreased significantly in a small part of the lower basin. The temporal changes of the typical precipitation indices may confirm the possible increasing tendency for occurrence of drier climate and even drought events in the downstream of Jinsha River basin.
Highlights
Global climate warming has significant impacts on the hydrological cycle and water resources in China
With the development of the population and the social economy, the frequent floods and droughts, the contradiction of water resources supply and demand are becoming important factors restricting the development of the national economy (Kirshen et al, 2005; Wang et al, 2012)
The rainfall peak in the Jinsha River basin has advanced from July to June, which would increase the probability of floods in the Yangtze River basin flood due to the almost simultaneous peaks (Su et al, 2005)
Summary
Global climate warming has significant impacts on the hydrological cycle and water resources in China. The precipitation extremes in the Jinsha River basin have increased significantly. The temporal and spatial changes of precipitation will cause changes of the hydrological processes in the Jinsha River basin, and have big impacts on utilization of water resources and hydropower (Kirshen et al, 2005). Analysis of the variations of precipitation in the Jinsha River basin, is very important for understanding the impacts of climate change on runoff and sediment yield, and can provide supportive information for integrated utilization of water resources (Du et al, 2013). Song et al (2012) and Wang et al (2013) studied the trends of seasonal and annual precipitation in the Jinsha River basin, while this paper focuses on the temporal and spatial changes of precipitation during 1961–2010 by applying some typical precipitation indices, to assess precipitation changes on longer time scales and some extreme indicators. Temporal and spatial variations of precipitation in the Jinsha River basin during 1961–2010 121
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