Abstract
Changes in rainfall extremes pose a serious and additional threat to water resources planning and management, natural and artificial oasis stability, and sustainable development in the fragile ecosystems of arid inland river basins. In this study, the trend and temporal variation of extreme precipitation are analyzed using daily precipitation datasets at 11 stations over the arid inland Heihe River basin in Northwest China from 1960 to 2011. Eight indices of extreme precipitation are studied. The results show statistically significant and large-magnitude increasing and decreasing trends for most indices, primarily in the Qilian Mountains and eastern Hexi Corridor. More frequent and intense rainfall extremes have occurred in the southern part of the desert area than in the northern portion. In general, the temporal variation in precipitation extremes has changed throughout the basin. Wet day precipitation and heavy precipitation days show statistically significant linear increasing trends and step changes in the Qilian Mountains and Hexi Corridor. Consecutive dry days have decreased obviously in the region in most years after approximately the late 1980s, but meanwhile very long dry spells have increased, especially in the Hexi Corridor. The probability density function indicates that very long wet spells have increased in the QilianMountains. The East Asian summer monsoon index and western Pacific subtropical high intensity index possess strong and significant negative and positive correlations with rainfall extremes, respectively. Changes in land surface characteristics and the increase in water vapor in the wet season have also contributed to the changes in precipitation extremes over the river basin.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aguilar, E., and Coauthors, 2005: Changes in precipitation and temperature extremes in Central America and northern South America, 1961–2003. J. Geophys. Res., 110, D23107, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006119.
Alexander, L. V., P. Hope, D. Collins, B. Trewin, A. Lynch, and N. Nicholls, 2007: Trends in Australia’s climate means and extremes: a global context. Aust. Meteor. Mag., 56, 1–18.
Alexander, and Coauthors, 2006: Global observed changes in daily climate extremes of temperature and precipitation. J. Geophys. Res., 111, D05109, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006290.
Anthes, R. A., 1984: Enhancement of convective precipitation by mesoscale variations in vegetative covering in semiarid regions. J. Climate Appl. Meteor., 23, 541–554, doi: 10.1175/1520-0450(1984)023<0541:EOCPBM>2.0.CO;2
Asquith, W., 2015: L-moments, Censored L-moments, Trimmed Lmoments, L-comoments, and Many Distributions. R package version 2.1.4, 532 pp. [Available online at http://www.cran.rproject.org/package=lmomco.]
Bronaugh, D., and A. Werner, 2013: zyp: Zhang + Yue-Pilon trends package. R package version 0. 10-1, 9 pp. [Available online at http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=zyp.]
Brown, S. J., J. Caesar, and C. A. T. Ferro, 2008: Global changes in extreme daily temperature since 1950. J. Geophys. Res., 113, D05115, doi: 10.1029/2006JD008091.
Chen, Y. N., H. J. Deng, B. F. Li, Z. Li, and C. C. Xu, 2014: Abrupt change of temperature and precipitation extremes in the arid region of Northwest China. Quaternary International, 336, 35–43, doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2013.12.057.
Cheng, G. D., X. Li, W. Z. Zhao, Z. M. Xu, Q. Feng, S. C. Xiao, and H. L. Xiao, 2014: Integrated study of the waterecosystem-economy in the Heihe River Basin. National Science Review, 1, 413–428, doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwu017.
Chiang, S.-H., and K.-T. Chang, 2011: The potential impact of climate change on typhoon-triggered landslides in Taiwan, 2010–2099. Geomorphology, 133, 143–151, doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2010.12.028.
Chiew, F., and L. Siriwardena, 2005: TREND user guide, 23 pp. [Available online at http://www.toolkit.net.au/Tools/DownloadDocumentation.aspx?id=1000134.]
Choi, G., and Coauthors, 2009: Changes in means and extreme events of temperature and precipitation in the Asia-Pacific Network region, 1955–2007. Int. J. Climatol., 29, 1906–1925, doi: 10.1002/joc.1979.
Coles, S., 2001: An Introduction to Statistical Modeling of Extreme Values. Springer-Verlag, London, 208 pp.
Conover, W. J., 1971: Practical Nonparametric Statistics. Wiley, New York, 462 pp.
Deng, H. J., Y. N. Chen, X. Shi, W. H. Li, H. J.Wang, S. H. Zhang, and G. H. Fang, 2014: Dynamics of temperature and precipitation extremes and their spatial variation in the arid region of northwest China. Atmospheric Research, 138, 346–355, doi: 10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.12.001.
Deng, X. Z., Q. L. Shi, Q. Zhang, C. C. Shi, and F. Yin, 2015: Impacts of land use and land cover changes on surface energy and water balance in the Heihe River Basin of China, 2000–2010. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, doi: 10.1016/j.pce.2015.01.002.
Ding, Y. H., Y. Sun, Z. Y. Wang, Y. X. Zhu, and Y. F. Song, 2009: Inter-decadal variation of the summer precipitation in China and its association with decreasing Asian summer monsoon Part II: Possible causes. Int. J. Climatol., 29, 1926–1944, doi: 10.1002/joc.1759.
Ding, Y. H., Z. Y. Wang, and Y. Sun, 2008: Inter-decadal variation of the summer precipitation in East China and its association with decreasing Asian summer monsoon. Part I: Observed evidences. Int. J. Climatol., 28, 1139–1161, doi: 10.1002/joc.1615.
Donat, M. G., and Coauthors, 2013: Updated analyses of temperature and precipitation extreme indices since the beginning of the twentieth century: The HadEX2 dataset. J. Geophys. Res., 118, 2098–2118, doi: 10.1002/jgrd.50150.
Dong, D.-Y., S.-W. Wang, and J.-H. Zhu, 2012: East Asian winter monsoon and Arctic Oscillation. Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 2073–2076, doi: 10.1029/2000GL012311.
Fang, C.-L., 2002: Discrepancy laws of the eco-economic zone in Heihe drainage area and its coupling development pattern. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 22, 659–668. (in Chinese with English abstract)
Feng, J., D. Yan, C. Li, Y. Gao., and J. Liu, 2014: Regional frequency analysis of extreme precipitation after drought events in the Heihe River basin, Northwest China. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 19, 1101–1112, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000903.
Feng, Q., W. Liu, and H. Y. Xi, 2013: Comprehensive evaluation and indicator system of land desertification in the Heihe River basin. Nature Hazards, 65, 1573–1588, doi: 10.1007/s11069-012-0429-5.
Fischer, E. M., and R. Knutti, 2014: Detection of spatially aggregated changes in temperature and precipitation extremes. Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 547–554, doi: 10.1002/2013GL058499.
Frich, P., L. V. Alexander, P. Della-Marta, B. Gleason, M. Haylock, A. M. G. Klein Tank, and T. Peterson, 2002: Observed coherent changes in climatic extremes during the second half of the twentieth century. Climate Research, 19, 193–212, doi: 10.3354/cr019193.
Fu, G. B., J. J. Yu, X. B. Yu, R. Ouyang, Y. C. Zhang, P.Wang, W. B. Liu, and L. L. Min, 2013: Temporal variation of extreme rainfall events in China, 1961–2009. J. Hydrol., 487, 48–59, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.02.021.
Fu, G. B., N. R. Viney, S. P. Charles, and J. R. Liu, 2010: Longterm temporal variation of extreme rainfall events in Australia: 1910–2006. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 11, 950–965, doi: 10.1175/2010JHM1204.1.
Gao, Y. H., and Coauthors, 2008: Enhancement of land surface information and its impact on atmospheric modeling in the Heihe River Basin, northwest China. J. Geophys. Res., 113, D20S90, doi: 10.1029/2008JD010359.
Gilleland, E., and R.W. Katz, 2011: New software to analyze how extremes change over time. Eos, 92, 13–14, doi: 10.1029/2011EO020001.
Grant, O. M., L. Tronina, J. C. Ramalho, C. Kurz Besson, R. Lobodo-Vale, J. Santos Pereira, H. G. Jones, and M. M. Chaves, 2010: The impact of drought on leaf physiology of Quercus suber L. trees: Comparison of an extreme drought event with chronic rainfall reduction. Journal of Experimental Botany, 61, 4361–4371, doi: 10.1093/jxb/erq239.
Gregersen, I. B., H. J. D. Sørup, H. Madsen, D. Rosbjerg, P. S. Mikkelsen, and K. Arnbjerg-Nielsen, 2013: Assessing future climatic changes of rainfall extremes at small spatio-temporal scales. Climatic Change, 118, 783–797, doi: 10.1007/s10584-012-0669-0.
Groisman, P. Y., R. W. Knight, D. R. Easterling, T. R. Karl, G. C. Hegerl, and V. N. Razuvaev, 2005: Trends in intense precipitation in the climate record. J. Climate, 18, 1326–1350, doi: 10.1175/JCLI3339.1.
Hair, J. F., W. C. Black, B. J. Babin, and R. E. Anderson, 2009: Multivariate Data Analysis. 7th ed. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 816 pp.
Heisler-white, J., J. M. Blair, E. F. Kelly, K. Harmoney, and A. K. Knapp, 2009: Contingent productivity responses to more extreme rainfall regimes across a grassland biome. Global Change Biology, 15, 2894–2904, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01961.x.
Hirsch, R. M., J. R. Slack, and R. A. Smith, 1982: Techniques of trend analysis for monthly water quality data. Water Resour. Res., 18, 107–121, doi: 10.1029/WR018i001p00107.
Hosking, J. R. M., and J. R. Wallis, 1997: Regional Frequency Analysis: An Approach Based on L-Moments. Cambridge University Press, 242 pp.
Hossain, F., I. Jeyachandran, and R. Pielke Jr., 2010: Dam safety effects due to human alteration of extreme precipitation. Water Resour. Res., 46, W03301, doi: 10.1029/2009WR007704.
Huang, R. H., and Y. F. Wu, 1989: The influence of ENSO on the summer climate change in China and its mechanism. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 6, 21–32, doi: 10.1007/BF02656915.
IPCC, 2001: Climate change 2001: The scientific basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Houghton et al., Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 881 pp.
IPCC, 2012: Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. A special report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Field et al., Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 582 pp.
IPCC, 2013: Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Stocker et al., Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1535 pp.
Jeswani, H. K., W. Wehrmeyer, and Y. Mulugetta, 2008: How warm is the corporate response to climate change? Evidence from Pakistan and the UK. Business Strategy and the Environment, 18, 46–60, doi: 10.1002/bse.569.
Jones, M. R., S. Blenkinsop, H. J. Fowler, and C. G. Kilsby, 2014: Objective classification of extreme rainfall regions for the UK and updated estimates of trends in regional extreme rainfall. Int. J. Climatol., 34, 751–765, doi: 10.1002/joc.3720.
Kang, E., G. D. Cheng, K. C. Song, B. Jin, X. D. Liu, and J. Y. Wang, 2005: Simulation of energy and water balance in Soil-Vegetation- Atmosphere Transfer system in the mountain area of Heihe River Basin at Hexi Corridor of Northwest China. Science in China (D), 48, 538–548, doi: 10.1360/02yd0428.
Kang, S. Y., B. Yang, and C. Qin, 2012: Recent tree-growth reduction in north central China as a combined result of a weakened monsoon and atmospheric oscillations. Climatic Change, 115, 519–536, doi: 10.1007/s10584-012-0440-6.
Kendall, M. G., 1970: Rank Correlation Methods. Griffin, London, 202 pp.
Kharin, V. V., and F. W. Zwiers, 2000: Changes in the extremes in an ensemble of transient climate simulations with a coupled atmosphere-ocean GCM. J. Climate, 13, 3760–3788, doi: 10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<3760:CITEIA>2.0.CO;2.
Kiktev, D., J. Caesar, L. V. Alexander, H. Shiogama, and M. Collier, 2007: Comparison of observed and multi-modeled trends in annual extremes of temperature and precipitation. Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L10702, doi: 10.1029/2007GL029539.
Klein Tank, A. M. G., and G. P. Können, 2003: Trends in indices of daily temperature and precipitation extremes in Europe, 1946–99. J. Climate, 16, 3665–3680, doi: 10.1175/1520-0442(2003)016<3665:TIIODT>2.0.CO;2.
Klein Tank, A. M. G., F. W. Zwiers, and X. Zhang, 2009: Guidelines on analysis of extremes in a changing climate in support of informed decisions for adaptation. Climate Data and Monitoring, WCDMP-No. 72, WMO-TD No. 1500, 56 pp.
Klein Tank, A. M. G., and Coauthors, 2006: Changes in daily temperature and precipitation extremes in central and south Asia. J. Geophys. Res., 111, D16105, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006316.
Knapp, A. K., and Coauthors, 2008: Consequences of more extreme precipitation regimes for terrestrial ecosystems. Bioscience, 58, 811–821, doi: 10.1641/B580908.
Kundzewicz, Z. W., and A. Robson, 2000: Detecting Trend and Other Changes in Hydrological Data. World Climate Program-Water, WMO/UNESCO, WCDMP-45, WMO/TD 1013, Geneva, 157 pp.
Kunkel, K. E., D. R. Easterling, D. A. R. Kristovich, B. Gleason, L. Stoecker, and R. Smith, 2012: Meteorological causes of the secular variations in observed extreme precipitation events for the conterminous United States. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 13, 1131–1141, doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-11-0108.1.
Lau, K.-M., and M.-T. Li, 1984: The monsoon of East Asia and its global associations—A survey. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 65, 114–125, doi: 10.1175/1520-0477(1984)065<0114:TMOEAA>2.0.CO;2.
Li, B. F., Y. N. Chen, and X. Shi, 2012: Why does the temperature rise faster in the arid region of Northwest China? J. Geophys. Res., 117, D16115, doi: 10.1029/2012JD017953.
Li, H.-Y., Z.-H. Lin, and H. Chen, 2009: Interdecadal variability of spring precipitation over South China and its associated atmospheric water vapor transport. Atmos. Oceanic Sci. Lett., 2, 113–118.
Li, J. P., and Q. C. Zeng, 2002: A unified monsoon index. Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1151–1154, doi: 10.1029/2001GL013874.
Li, J. P., and Q. C. Zeng, 2003: A new monsoon index and the geographical distribution of the global monsoons. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 20, 299–302, doi: 10.1007/s00376-003-0016-5.
Li, Q. P., and Y. H. Ding, 2012: Climate simulation and future projection of precipitation and the water vapor budget in the Haihe River basin. Acta Meteorologica Sinica, 26, 345–361, doi: 10.1007/s13351-012-0307-9.
Li, Z. L., W. Wang, and Z. Li, 2014: Frequency analysis of extremes precipitation in the Heihe River basin based on Generalized Pareto Distribution. Geographical Research, 33, 2169–2179, doi: 10.11821/dlyj201411016. (in Chinese with English abstract)
Liu, W., S. Cao, H. Y. Xi, and Q. Feng, 2010a: Land use history and status of land desertification in the Heihe River Basin. Natural Hazards, 53, 273–290, doi: 10.1007/s11069-009-9429-5.
Liu, Y., J. Y. Sun, H. M. Song, Q. F. Cai, G. Bao, and X. X. Li, 2010b: Tree-ring hydrologic reconstructions for the Heihe River watershed, western China since AD 1430. Water Research, 44, 2781–2792, doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2010.02.013.
Liu, Y. M., and G. X. Wu, 2004: Progress in the study on the formation of the summertime subtropical anticyclone. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 21, 322–342, doi: 10.1007/BF02915562.
Loarie, S. R., P. B. Duffy, H. Hamilton, G. P. Asner, C. B. Field, and D. D. Ackerly, 2009: The velocity of climate change. Nature, 462, 1052–1055, doi: 10.1038/nature08649.
Lu, L., X. Li, and G. D. Cheng, 2003: Landscape evolution in the middle Heihe River Basin of north-west China during the last decade. Journal of Arid Environments, 53, 395–408, doi: 10.1006/jare.2002.1032.
Ma, M. G., and V. Frank, 2006: Interannual variability of vegetation cover in the Chinese Heihe River basin and its relation to meteorological parameters. Int. J. Remote Sens., 27, 3473–3486, doi: 10.1080/01431160600593031.
Mann, H. B., 1945: Nonparametric tests against trend. Econometrica, 13, 245–259.
Manton, M. J., and Coauthors, 2001: Trends in extreme daily rainfall and temperature in southeast Asia and the South Pacific: 1961–1998. Int. J. Climatol., 21, 269–284, doi: 10.1002/joc.610.
Marengo, J. A., J. Tomasella, W. R. Soares, L. M. Alves, and C. A. Nobre, 2012: Extreme climatic events in the Amazon basin. Theor. Appl. Chimatol., 107, 73–85, doi: 10.1007/s00704-011-0465-1.
Nandintsetseg, B., J. S. Greene, and C. E. Goulden, 2007: Trends in extreme daily precipitation and temperature near Lake Hövsgöl, Mongolia. Int. J. Climatol., 27, 341–347, doi: 10.1002/joc.1404.
Pal, I., and A. Al-Tabbaa, 2011: Monsoon rainfall extreme indices and tendencies from 1954–2003 in Kerala, India. Climatic Change, 106, 407–419, doi: 10.1007/s10584-011-0044-6.
Peterson, T. C., X. Zhang, M. Brunet-India, and J. L. Vázquez-Aguirre, 2008: Changes in North American extremes derived from daily weather data. J. Geophys. Res., 113, 1–9, doi: 10.1029/2007JD009453.
Piccarreta, M., A. Pasini, and D. Capolongo, 2013: Changes in daily precipitation extremes in the Mediterranean from 1951 to 2010: The Basilicata region, southern Italy. Int. J. Climatol, 33, 3229–3248, doi: 10.1002/joc.3670.
Qi, S. Z., and F. Luo, 2005: Water environmental degradation of the Heihe River basin arid northwestern China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 108, 205–215, doi: 10.1007/s10661-005-3912-6.
Qi, S. Z., and F. Luo, 2006: Land-use change and its environmental impact in the Heihe River basin, arid northwestern China. Environmental Geology, 50, 535–540, doi: 10.1007/s00254-006-0230-4.
Qin, C., B. Yang, I. Burchardt, X. L. Hu, and X. C. Kang, 2010: Intensified pluvial conditions during the twentieth century in the inland Heihe River basin in arid northwestern China over the past millennium. Global and Planetary Change, 72, 192–200, doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2010.04.005.
R Core Team, 2013: R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing: Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0. [Available online at: http://www.R-project.org.]
Rajczak, J., P. Pall, and C. Schär, 2013: Projections of extreme precipitation events in regional climate simulations for Europe and the Alpine Region. J. Geophys. Res., 118, 610–3626, doi: 10.1002/jgrd.50297.
Ran, Q. H., D. Y. Su, P. Li, and Z. G. He, 2012: Experimental study of the impact of rainfall characteristics on runoff generation and soil erosion. J. Hydrol., 424–425, 99–111, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.12.035.
Rosenberg, E. A., P. W. Keys, D. B. Booth, D. Hartley, J. Burkey, A. C. Steinemann, and D. P. Lettenmaier, 2010: Precipitation extremes and the impacts of climate change on stormwater infrastructure in Washington State. Climate Change, 102, 319–349, doi: 10.1007/s10584-010-9847-0.
Saidi, H., M. Ciampittiello, C. Dresti, and G. Ghiglieri, 2013: Observed variability and trends in extreme rainfall indices and Peaks-Over-Threshold series. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discusses, 10, 6049–607, doi: 10.5194/hessd-10-6049-2013.
Sanabria, L. A., and R. P. Cechet, 2010: Severe wind hazard assessment using Monte Carlo simulation. Environmental Modeling & Assessment, 15, 147–154, doi: 10.1007/s10666-008-9188-9.
Samuels, R., A. Rimmer, and P. Alpert, 2009: Effect of extreme rainfall events on the water resources of the Jordan River. J. Hydrol., 375, 513–523, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.07.001.
Sen, P. K., 1968: Estimates of the regression coefficient based on Kendall’s tau. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 63, 1379–1389, doi: 10.1080/01621459.1968.10480934.
Seneviratne, S. I., D. Lôthi, and M. Litschi, 2006: Landatmosphere coupling and climate change in Europe. Nature, 443, 205–209, doi: 10.1038/nature05095.
Shi, Y. F., Y. P. Shen, E. Kang, D. L. Li, Y. J. Ding, G. W. Zhang, and R. J. Hu, 2007: Recent and future climate change in Northwest China. J. Climate, 80, 379–393, doi: 10.1007/s10584-006-9121-7.
Si, J. H., Q. Feng, X.H. Wen, Y.H. Su, H. Y. Xi, and Z. Q. Chang, 2009: Major ion chemistry of groundwater in the extreme arid region Northwest China. Environmental Geology, 57, 1079–1087, doi: 10.1007/s00254-008-1394-x.
Sillmann, J., V. V. Kharin, X. Zhang, F. W. Zwiers, and D. Bronaugh, 2013a: Climate extremes indices in the CMIP5 multimodel ensemble: Part 1. Model evaluation in the present climate. J.Geophys. Res., 118, 1716–1733, doi: 10.1002/jgrd.50203.
Sillmann, J., V. V. Kharin, F. W. Zwiers, X. Zhang, and D. Bronaugh, 2013b: Climate extreme indices in the CMIP5 multimodel ensemble: Part 2. Future climate projections. J. Geophys. Res., 118, 2473–2493, doi: 10.1002/jgrd.50188.
Tang, M. C., 1985: The distribution of precipitation in Mountain Qilian (Nanshan). Acta Geographica Sinica, 40, 323–332.
Trenberth, K. E., A. Dai, R. M. Rasmussen, and D. B. Parsons, 2003: The changing character of precipitation. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 84, 1205–1217, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-84-9-1205.
van den Besselaar, E. J. M., A. M. G. Klein Tank, and T. A. Buishand, 2013: Trends in European precipitation extremes over 1951–2010. Int. J. Climatol., 33, 2682–2689, doi: 10.1002/joc.3619.
van Pelt, S. C., J. J. Beersma, T. A. Buishand, B. J. J. M. van den Hurk, and P. Kabat, 2012: Future changes in extreme precipitation in the Rhine basin based on global and regional climate model simulations. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16, 4517–4530, doi: 10.5194/hess-16-4517-2012.
Vavrus, S. J., and R. J. Behnke, 2013: A comparison of projectedfuture precipitation in Wisconsin using global and downscaled climate model simulations: Implications for publichealth. Int. J. Climatol., 34, 3106-3124, doi: 10.1002/joc.3897.
Vincent, L. A., and Coauthors, 2011: Observed trends in indices ofdaily and extreme temperature and precipitation for the countriesof the western Indian Ocean, 1961-2008. J. Geophys.Res., 116, 1-12, doi: 10.1029/2010JD015303.
Wang, G. X., J. Q. Liu, J. Kubota, and L. Chen, 2007: Effectsof land-use changes on hydrological processes in the middle basin of the Heihe River, Northwest China. Hydrological Processes, 21, 1370-1382, doi: 10.1002/hyp.6308.
Wang, H. J., Y. N. Chen, and Z. S. Chen, 2012: Spatial distributionand temporal trends of mean precipitation and extremes in thearid region, northwest of China, during 1960-2010. HydrologicalProcesses, 27, 1807-1818, doi: 10.1002/hyp.9339.
Wang, H. J., Y. N. Chen, S. Xun, D. M. Lai, Y. T. Fan, and Z. Li, 2013: Changes in daily climate extremes in the arid area of northwestern China. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 112, 15-28, doi: 10.1007/s00704-012-0698-7.
Wang, J. F., and X. B. Zhang, 2008: Downscaling and projectionof winter extreme daily precipitation over North America. J.Climate, 21, 923-937, doi: 10.1175/2007JCLI1671.1.
Wang, J., H. Li, and X. Hao, 2010: Responses of snowmelt runoffto climatic change in an inland river basin, NorthwesternChina, over the past 50 years. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 14, 1979-1987, doi: 10.5194/hess-14-1979-2010.
Wang, K. L., G. D. Cheng, H. L. Xiao, and H. Jiang, 2004: The westerly fluctuation and water vapor transport over the Qilian-Heihe valley. Science in China Series (D), 47, 32-38, doi: 10.1360/04yd0004.
Wang, L. M., Q. L. Zhang, and J. Y. Yin, 2003: Study on thegrowth pattern and bio-productivity of the PopulusEuphraticaforest stand in Ejina. Journal of Arid Land Resources andEnvironment, 17, 94-99. (in Chinese with English abstract)
Wang, X., and Y. Feng, 2010: RHtestsV3 User Manual, 27 pp. [Available online at: http://etccdi.pacificclimate.org/software.shtml]
Wang, Y. B., Q. Feng, J. H. Si, Y. H. Su, Z. Q. Chang, and H. Y. Xi, 2011: The changes of vegetation cover in Ejina Oasis basedon water resources redistribution in Heihe River. Environmental Earth Sciences, 64, 1965-1973, doi: 10.1007/s12665-011-1013-0.
Wang, Y. Q., and L. Zhou, 2005: Observed trends in extreme precipitationevents in China during 1961-2001 and the associatedchanges in large-scale circulation. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L09707, doi: 10.1029/2005GL022574.
Wen, L. J., and J. M. Jin, 2012: Modelling and analysis of the impactof irrigation on local arid climate over Northwest China. Hydrological Processes, 26, 445-453, doi: 10.1002/hyp.8142.
Williams, C. J. R., and D. R. Kniveton, 2012: Atmosphere-landsurface interactions and their influence on extreme rainfalland potential abrupt climate change over southern Africa. ClimateChange, 112, 981-996, doi: 10.1007/s10584-011-0266-7.
Xie, Y. W., L. L. Li, X. J. Zhao, and C. X. Yuan, 2012: Temporalspatialchanges of the oasis in the Heihe River basin overthe past 25 years. Sustainable development-education, businessand management-architecture and building constructionagricultureand food security. G. Chaouki, Ed., InTech, Croatia,313-330.
Xu, J. W., and Y. H. Gao, 2014: Validation of summer surfaceair temperature and precipitation simulation over Heihe Riverbasin. Plateau Meteorology, 33, 937-946. (in Chinese withEnglish abstract)
Yin, Y. Y., 2006: Vulnerability and adaptation to climate variabilityand change in western China. AIACC, Project No. AS 25, 106 pp.
You, Q. L., and Coauthors, 2011: Changes in daily climate extremesin China and their connection to the large scale atmosphericcirculation during 1961-2003. Climate Dyn., 36,2399-2417, doi: 10.1007/s00382-009-0735-0.
Yu, R. C., B. Wang, and T. J. Zhou, 2004: Tropospheric coolingand summer monsoon weakening trend over East Asia. Geophys.Res. Lett., 31, 1-4, doi: 10.1029/2004GL021270.
Yue, S., P. Pilon, B. Phinney, and G. Cavadias, 2002: The influenceof autocorrelation on the ability to detect trend in hydrological series. Hydrological Processes, 16, 1807-1829, doi: 10.1002/hyp.1095.
Zhai, P. M., X. B. Zhang, H. Wan, and X. H. Pan, 2005: Trendsin total precipitation and frequency of daily precipitation extremes over China. J. Climate, 18, 1096-1108, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-3318.1.
Zhang, A. J., C. M. Zheng, S. Wang, and Y. Y. Yao, 2015: Analysis of streamflow variations in the Heihe River basin, Northwest China: trends, abrupt changes, driving factors and ecological influences. J. Hydrol., 3, 106-124, doi: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2014.10.005.
Zhang, J. S., E. S. Kang, Y. C. Lan, and R. S. Chen, 2003: Impact of climate change and variability on water resources in Heihe River basin. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 13, 286-292,doi: 10.1007/BF02837501.
Zhang, Q., J. F. Li, V. P. Singh, and C. Y. Xu, 2003: Copula-basedspatio-temporal patterns of precipitation extremes in China.Int. J. Climatol., 33, 1140-1152, doi: 10.1002/joc.3499.
Zhang, Q., V. P. Singh, J. F. Li, and X. H. Chen, 2011a: Analysisof the periods of maximum consecutive wet days in China. J.Geophys. Res., 116, 1-18, doi: 10.1029/2011JD016088.
Zhang, Q., C. Y. Xu, Z. X. Zhang, and Y. D. Chen, 2010: Changes of atmospheric water vapor budget in the Pearl River basinand possible implications for hydrological cycle. Theor. Appl.Climatol., 102, 185-195, doi: 10.1007/s00704-010-0257-z.
Zhang, X. B., L. V. Alexander, G. C. Hegerl, P. Jones, A. K. Tank, T. C. Peterson, B. Trewin, and F. W. Zwiers, 2011b: Indicesfor monitoring changes in extremes based on daily temperatureand precipitation data. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews:Climate Change, 2, 851-870, doi: 10.1002/wcc.147.
Zhao, C., Z. Nan, and G. Cheng, 2005: Methods for estimatingirrigation needs of spring wheat in the middle Heihe basin, China. Agricultural Water Management, 75, 54-70,doi: 10.1016/j.agwat.2004.12.003.
Zhao, W. Z., B. Liu, and Z. H. Zhang, 2010: Water requirementsof maize in the middle Heihe River basin, China. Agricultural Water Management, 97, 215-223, doi: 10.1016/j.agwat.2009.09.011.
Zhou, T. J., and Coauthors, 2009: Why the western Pacific subtropical high has extended westward since the Late 1970s. J.Climate, 22, 2199-2215, doi: 10.1175/2008JCLI2527.1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cheng, A., Feng, Q., Fu, G. et al. Recent changes in precipitation extremes in the Heihe River basin, Northwest China. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 32, 1391–1406 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-015-4199-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-015-4199-3