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Spatial and temporal characteristics of actual evapotranspiration over Haihe River basin in China

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Abstract

Spatial and temporal characteristics of actual evapotranspiration over the Haihe River basin in China during 1960–2002 are estimated using the complementary relationship and the Thornthwaite water balance (WB) approaches. Firstly, the long-term water balance equation is used to validate and select the most suitable long-term average annual actual evapotranspiration equations for nine subbasins. Then, the most suitable method, the Pike equation, is used to calibrate parameters of the complementary relationship models and the WB model at each station. The results show that the advection aridity (AA) model more closely estimates actual evapotranspiration than does the Granger and Gray (GG) model especially considering the annual and summer evapotranspiration when compared with the WB model estimates. The results from the AA model and the WB model are then used to analyze spatial and temporal changing characteristics of the actual evapotranspiration over the basin. The analysis shows that the annual actual evapotranspirations during 1960–2002 exhibit similar decreasing trends in most parts of the Haihe River basin for the AA and WB models. Decreasing trends in annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, which directly affect water supply and the energy available for actual evapotranspiration respectively, jointly lead to the decrease in actual evapotranspiration in the basin. A weakening of the water cycle seems to have appeared, and as a consequence, the water supply capacity has been on the decrease, aggravating water shortage and restricting sustainable social and economic development in the region.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by 973 National Project in China—Mechanism research to water cycle evolution and high effective utilization of water resources in Haihe River Basin (2006CB403404), the Ministry of Water Resources’ special funds for scientific research on public causes, (No. 200901042), the Key Project of the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40730632), and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities—the 111 Project of Hohai University. We also would like to thank Dr. Shuiqing Yin, Mr.Tinghai Ou and Ms. Yumei Hu, for their helps on geographic information to make the figures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Climate Studies, National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, No. 46 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Haidian, Beijing, 100081, China

    Ge Gao

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, PO Box 460, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Ge Gao & Deliang Chen

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

    Chong-Yu Xu

  4. School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Chong-Yu Xu

  5. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA

    V. P. Singh

  6. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA

    V. P. Singh

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Correspondence to Ge Gao.

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Gao, G., Xu, CY., Chen, D. et al. Spatial and temporal characteristics of actual evapotranspiration over Haihe River basin in China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 26, 655–669 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-011-0525-1

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