Regional climate response to global warming in the source region of the Yellow River and its impact on runoff
image: Spatial distributions of the actual evaporation in the source region of the Yellow River: annual amounts from 1990 to 2017 ((a)(d)(g)(j)), anomalies from 1990 to 2002 ((b)(e)(h)(k)) and anomalies from 2003 to 2017 ((c)(f)(i)(l)) ((a)–(c) Mean evaporation from the ERA5L dataset, (d)–(f) from the ERA5 dataset, (g)–(i) from the GLEAM (Global Land Surface Evaporation: the Amsterdam Methodology) dataset, and (j)–(l) from the TPDC (National Tibetan Plateau evaporation) global land evaporation dataset; the thin black solid lines in the source region are the zero-value lines; Unit: mm)
Credit: ©Science China Press
Recently, Science China: Earth Sciences published an online research article by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, exploring the impacts of global warming on local climate and runoff in the source region of the Yellow River. The research team analyzed routine meteorological data from China meteorological Administration station and multiple reanalysis datasets to uncover the climate changes and their effects on runoff in this region.
The study revealed that over the past few decades, temperatures in the source region of the Yellow River had been steadily rising. The precipitation amounts increased significantly after the early 21st century. However, runoff levels had remained persistently low. This phenomenon is primarily attributed to the temporal and spatial variations in precipitation and evapotranspiration. In the relatively arid northwestern part of the source region, precipitation has increased significantly, but much of it is converted into evapotranspiration, contributing less to runoff. In the relatively humid southeastern part, which is the main runoff-producing area, evapotranspiration has increased markedly due to thermal factors such as temperature, while the increase in precipitation has been limited, resulting in weakened runoff generation. This climatic response in the source region of the Yellow River is likely to be unfavorable for increased runoff in the future.
See the article:
Zhang Y, Zhou D, Guo X. 2024. Regional climate response to global warming in the source region of the Yellow River and its impact on runoff. Science China Earth Sciences, 67(3): 843–855, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-023-1253-x