Impacts of human activities and climate change on water and sediment evolution in four large subtropical river basins in China

Wei, Danmeng; Liu, Shuguang; Wu, Yiping; Feng, Shuailong; Gao, Haiqiang; Qin, Caiqing; Ren, Dandan; Tang, Wenxi; Zhang, Yingzi

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110958

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Additionally, human activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and land-use changes can alter natural hydrological cycles, affecting water infiltration, runoff patterns, and groundwater recharge rates. These changes can impact water availability and quality, as well as the resilience of ecosystems [10,11]. Addressing the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities on surface water resources requires integrated strategies, including sustainable water management practices, ecosystem conservation, climate adaptation measures, and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comprehensive Assessment of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Effects on Surface Water Resources in the Lake Urmia Basin, Iran

Kazemi Garajeh,

Akbari,

Aghaei Chaleshtori

et al. 2024

Remote Sensing

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In recent decades, the depletion of surface water resources within the Lake Urmia Basin (LUB), Iran, has emerged as a significant environmental concern. Both anthropogenic activities and climate change have influenced the availability and distribution of surface water resources in this area. This research endeavors to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities on surface water resources across the LUB. Various critical climatic and anthropogenic factors affecting surface water bodies, such as air temperature (AT), cropland (CL), potential evapotranspiration (PET), snow cover, precipitation, built-up areas, and groundwater salinity, were analyzed from 2000 to 2021 using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform. The JRC-Global surface water mapping layers V1.4, with a spatial resolution of 30 m, were employed to monitor surface water patterns. Additionally, the Mann–Kendall (MK) non-parametric trend test was utilized to identify statistically significant trends in the time series data. The results reveal negative correlations of −0.56, −0.89, −0.09, −0.99, and −0.79 between AT, CL, snow cover, built-up areas, and groundwater salinity with surface water resources, respectively. Conversely, positive correlations of 0.07 and 0.12 were observed between precipitation and PET and surface water resources, respectively. Notably, the findings indicate that approximately 40% of the surface water bodies in the LUB have remained permanent over the past four decades. However, there has been a loss of around 30% of permanent water resources, transitioning into seasonal water bodies, which now account for nearly 13% of the total. The results of our research also indicate that December and January are the months with the most water presence over the LUB from 1984 to 2021. This is because these months align with winter in the LUB, during which there is no water consumption for the agriculture sector. The driest months in the study area are August, September, and October, with the presence of water almost at zero percent. These months coincide with the summer and autumn seasons in the study area. In summary, the results underscore the significant impact of human activities on surface water resources compared to climatic variables.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comprehensive Assessment of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Effects on Surface Water Resources in the Lake Urmia Basin, Iran

Kazemi Garajeh,

Akbari,

Aghaei Chaleshtori

et al. 2024

Remote Sensing

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“…As one of the human activity factors, land use change can lead to changes in hydrological functions within the watershed. Generally, human activities refer to human interventions in the utilization of the basin, such as changes in land use and the construction of hydraulic engineering projects [5,18]. Previous studies have confirmed the representative role of land use changes in human activities [50][51][52].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The DMC method is one of the simplest, most effective, and most used approaches for analyzing continuous or long-term trends in hydrometeorological factors [18,24]. DMC is a relationship line in Cartesian coordinates that provides the continuous cumulative values of one variable and the continuous cumulative values of another variable during the same period.…”

Section: Double Mass Curve (Dmc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eccles et al found that a warming climate may lead to decreased flow in subtropical rivers [16]. Different scholars have adopted different methods to evolute the influences of climate change and human activities, mainly including statistical analysis [17][18][19], the Budyko hypothesis [20,21], hydrological models [22,23], and so on. Among these, the Double Mass Curve (DMC) of statistical analysis is simple to compute and allows assessment with fewer inputs [14,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time, there is still a strong relationship between land use and sediment load, and correlations need to be established to fully understand their correlation. Several studies have shown that land use change and climate diversity are also important causes of hydrological change [18]. A reduction in impervious areas may lead to increased streamflow and consequent flooding [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantitative Contributions of Climate and Human Activities to Streamflow and Sediment Load in the Xiliugou Basin of China

Wang,

Zhang,

Wang

et al. 2024

Sustainability

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Investigating the influence of human activities and climate change on streamflow and sediment load is of great significance for understanding the hydrological cycle, addressing climate change, and ensuring sustainable water resource management. Based on observed data of precipitation, streamflow, and sediment load from 1990 to 2021 in the Xiliugou Basin, trend and abrupt change analyses of streamflow and sediment load were conducted using the coefficient of variation and Bayesian change point detection method. The effects of climate change and human activities on streamflow and sediment load were further examined through the double mass curve method, with a focus on the impact of land use changes on streamflow and sediment load dynamics. The results indicated that: (1) During the study period, there was a consistent decreasing trend in streamflow, sediment load, and precipitation, with respective rates of −77.76 × 104 m3/year, −55.97 × 104 Mt/year, and −0.84 mm/year. The distribution of annual streamflow and sediment load in the basin was uneven, with 61.05% of precipitation occurring during the wet season and the peak sediment discharge month being July, accounting for 58.90% of the total annual sediment load. (2) The variations in streamflow and sediment load in the Xiliugou Basin exhibited distinct stage characteristics, with abrupt changes occurring around 1997. Both streamflow and sediment load showed significant fluctuations from the reference period to the changing period, decreasing by 45.54% and 82.85%, respectively. (3) A positive correlation between precipitation and streamflow was observed in the Xiliugou Basin, with correlation coefficients (R) of 0.62 and 0.49, indicating a stimulating effect of precipitation on streamflow and sediment load. Human activities significantly reduced sediment load in the Xiliugou Basin from 1998 to 2021, contributing to a reduction of 115.08%. (4) An increase in cropland, water, and barren areas would lead to higher streamflow and sediment load, while an increase in grassland, forest, and impervious areas would decrease both streamflow and sediment load.

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Quantifying the impacts of climate change and human activities on runoff and suspended sediment load in the Lhasa River Basin, Tibetan Plateau

Zhang,

Zhao,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Quantifying the attribution of climate change and human activities on runoff and suspended sediment load is crucial for formulating future watershed management measures, especially in the ecologically fragile alpine region, which is more susceptible to climate change and human activities. In this study, the temporal changes in runoff‐suspended sediment load and the potential impact factors (i.e., precipitation, potential evapotranspiration (PET), land use/land cover change (LULC) and reservoir operation) were investigated in the Lhasa River Basin (LRB) from 1956 to 2020. In addition, the contributions of those factors to the changes in runoff and suspended sediment load were quantitatively evaluated based on physically‐based Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT). The results indicated that annual runoff and suspended sediment load showed an increasing but insignificant trend during 1956–2020, while annual precipitation and PET showed a significant increasing trend at a rate of 0.94 and 1.07 mm/yr, respectively. LULC mainly presented an increase in forestland area followed by a decrease in grassland and bare land area due to the implementation of ecological projects. Runoff and suspended sediment load changed abruptly at approximately 1995 and 2005 based on three abrupt change identification methods, thus, the study period was further divided into three substages: baseline period (P0, 1956–1994), dramatically increased period (P1, 1995–2004) and slightly decreased period (P2, 2005–2020). The attribution analysis showed that climate change was the dominant contributor to runoff and suspended sediment load increments during P1. LULC caused the decline in runoff and suspended sediment load in both P1 and P2, with their contribution increasing significantly from 0.40% and 4.73% in P1 to 50.24% and 51.79% in P2, respectively. Reservoir operation was the second key factor in runoff and suspended sediment load reduction in P2, contributing 42.07% and 43.72%, respectively. These findings provide the scientific foundation for reasonably allocating water resources and statistical support for the benefit evaluation of implementing ecological projects in the basin.

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Impacts of human activities and climate change on water and sediment evolution in four large subtropical river basins in China

Cited by 10 publications

References 49 publications

A Comprehensive Assessment of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Effects on Surface Water Resources in the Lake Urmia Basin, Iran

A Comprehensive Assessment of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Effects on Surface Water Resources in the Lake Urmia Basin, Iran

Quantitative Contributions of Climate and Human Activities to Streamflow and Sediment Load in the Xiliugou Basin of China

Quantifying the impacts of climate change and human activities on runoff and suspended sediment load in the Lhasa River Basin, Tibetan Plateau

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