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Copula-based risk evaluation of hydrological droughts in the East River basin, China

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Abstract

Probabilistic characteristics of hydrological droughts in a basin are closely related to the variability and availability of water resources of the basin. The East River basin in China is the main source for water supply for mega cities in the Pearl River Delta and cities in the vicinity of the Delta, such as Hong Kong. The water supply is subject to the vagaries of weather and water resources in the basin exhibit probabilistic characteristics. Using daily streamflow data for a period of 1975–2009 from 4 hydrological stations in the East River basin, this study attempts to determine probabilistic characteristics of hydrological droughts using copula functions. The bivariate quantile curves of the secondary return periods for hydrological drought of all the hydrological stations have been built and the results a higher risk of hydrological droughts in the upper East River basin. Furthermore, water resources should be managed by considering the entire East River basin in order to sustain the regional socio-economic development, and the extreme value copula has been used to describe the extreme drought events in the East River basin.

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Acknowledgments

This work is financially supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 41071020; 50839005), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET), a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CUHK405308) and by the Geographical Modeling and Geocomputation Program under the Focused Investment Scheme (1902042) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Our cordial gratitude should be owed to the editor-in-chief, Prof. Dr. George Christakos, and two anonymous reviewers for their pertinent and professional comments and suggestions which greatly help to improve the quality of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water Resources and Environment, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Qiang Zhang, Mingzhong Xiao & Xiaohong Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Water Security in Southern China of Guangdong High Education Institute, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Qiang Zhang, Mingzhong Xiao & Xiaohong Chen

  3. School of Geography and Planning, and Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-simulation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Qiang Zhang, Mingzhong Xiao & Xiaohong Chen

  4. Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, 77843-2117, USA

    Vijay P. Singh

  5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, 77843-2117, USA

    Vijay P. Singh

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  1. Qiang Zhang
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  2. Mingzhong Xiao
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Correspondence to Qiang Zhang.

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Zhang, Q., Xiao, M., Singh, V.P. et al. Copula-based risk evaluation of hydrological droughts in the East River basin, China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 27, 1397–1406 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-012-0675-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-012-0675-9

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