Volume 35, Issue 8 e14319
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Spatiotemporal shifts in key hydrological variables and dominant factors over China

Shanlei Sun

Corresponding Author

Shanlei Sun

Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/International Joint Research Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

Correspondence

Shanlei Sun, International Joint Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Ningliu Road 219, Nanjing 210044, China.

Email: [email protected]

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Zaoying Bi

Zaoying Bi

Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/International Joint Research Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

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Shujia Zhou

Shujia Zhou

The Weather Station, Jintan Meteorological Bureau, Changzhou, China

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Hongzhou Wang

Hongzhou Wang

Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/International Joint Research Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

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Qingqing Li

Qingqing Li

Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/International Joint Research Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

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Yi Liu

Yi Liu

School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

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Guojie Wang

Guojie Wang

School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

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Shijie Li

Shijie Li

School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

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Haishan Chen

Haishan Chen

Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/International Joint Research Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

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Yang Zhou

Yang Zhou

Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/International Joint Research Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China

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First published: 22 July 2021
Citations: 5
Funding information National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Numbers: 41875094, 42075189; Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China, Grant/Award Number: BK20200096; the National Key Research and Development Program of China, Grant/Award Numbers: 2017YFA0603701, 2018YFC1507101

Abstract

Quantitatively and physically understanding changes in land surface hydrology is a hot topic in the hydro-meteorological research, especially over China with high population density but uneven distribution of water resources. Therefore, the spatiotemporal dynamics (i.e., the 1980s [1981–1990] and 1990s [1991–2000] relative to the baseline of 1961–1980) in evapotranspiration (ET) and streamflow/runoff (Q) were examined across 426 hydrological divisions (HDs) of China. Both the 1980s and 1990s ET decreased over roughly 50% HDs mainly in the central and southeast parts of China, while the 1980s (1990s) Q decreased over slightly higher than 50% (63%) HDs generally in north and southwest China (the central and north parts of China). Relative to the 1980s, more HDs had strong changes in ET and Q in 1990s. Based on the separated contributions of precipitation (P), reference ET and Budyko-type equation parameter n (an integrated variable of catchment property) to ET and Q changes, we found that in 1980s and 1990s, n dominated ET changes over about 60% HDs mainly in the south, with the dominant of P around 35% HDs generally in the north and northeast, while for Q changes, nearly 60% (slightly less than 40%) HDs were dominated by n (P). Moreover, the dominants for ET (Q) changes have shifted from 1980s to 1990s over 36% (45%) HDs, mainly changing from P to n. This study provides a framework for quantitatively understanding land surface hydrological dynamics from the perspectives of climatic and physiographic controls over regions.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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