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Spatio-temporal changes of hydrological processes and underlying driving forces in Guizhou region, Southwest China

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Abstract

Understanding the changes in streamflow and associated driving forces is crucial for formulating a sustainable regional water resources management strategy in the environmentally fragile karst area of the southwest China. This study investigates the spatio-temporal changes in streamflow of the Guizhou region and their linkage with meteorological influences using the Mann–Kendall trend analysis, singular-spectrum analysis (SSA), Lepage test, and flow duration curves (FDCs). The results demonstrate that: (1) the streamflow in the flood-season (June–August) during 1956–2000 increased significantly (confidence level ≥95%) in most catchments, closely consistent with the distinct increasing trend of annual rainfall over wet-seasons. The timings of abrupt change for streamflow in most catchments are found to occur at 1986; (2) streamflow in the Guizhou region experiences significant seasonal changes prior/posterior to 1986, and in most catchments the coefficient of variation of monthly streamflow increases; (3) spatial changes in streamflow indicate that monthly streamflow in the north-west decreases but increases in other parts; (4) the spatial high- and low-flow map (Q 5 and Q 95) reveals an increase in the extremely large streamflow in the five eastern catchments but a decrease in the extremely low streamflow in the four eastern catchments and three western catchments during 1987–2000. An increase in streamflow, particularly extreme flows, during the flood season would increase the risk of extreme flood events, while a decrease in streamflow in the dry season is not beneficial to vegetation restoration in this ecologically fragile region.

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by a National Basic Research Program (“973 Program”, 2006CB403200), open Research Grant from the Key Sediment Lab of the Ministry for Water Resources (2008001), key grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40830639), key Research Grant from Chinese Ministry of Education (308012), and a National Key Technology R&D Program (2007BAC03A060301). Cordial thanks should also be extended to two reviewers and the editor for their constructive comments and suggestions which greatly improved the quality of this paper. Prof. V.P. Singh of Texas A&M University kindly offered helps to improve the quality of the final version of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology, Water Resources and Hydraulics Engineering, Hohai University, 210098, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Tao Yang, Xi Chen & Zhi-Cai Zhang

  2. Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Chong-Yu Xu

  3. Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, 450003, Zhengzhou, China

    Tao Yang

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  1. Tao Yang
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  2. Xi Chen
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  4. Zhi-Cai Zhang
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Correspondence to Tao Yang.

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Yang, T., Chen, X., Xu, CY. et al. Spatio-temporal changes of hydrological processes and underlying driving forces in Guizhou region, Southwest China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 23, 1071–1087 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-008-0278-7

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