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Temporal and spatial patterns of low-flow changes in the Yellow River in the last half century

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Abstract

Low-flow is widely regarded as the primary flow conditions for the anthropogenic and aquatic communities in most rivers, particularly in such an arid and semi-arid area as the Yellow River. This study presents a method integrating Mann–Kendall trend test, wavelet transform analysis and spatial mapping techniques to identify the temporal and spatial patterns of low-flow changes in the Yellow River (1955–2005). The results indicate that: (1) no trend can be identified in the major low-flow conditions in the upper Yellow River, but downward trends can be found in the middle and lower Yellow River; (2) similar periodic patterns are detected in the 7-day minima (AM7Q) in the upper and middle Yellow River, while different patterns are found in the lower Yellow River; (3) the increasing coefficients of variance in the primary low-flow conditions suggest that the variability of the low-flow is increasing from the upper to lower stream; (4) climate change and uneven temporal-spatial patterns of precipitation, jointly with highly intensified water resource utilization, are recognized as the major factors that led to the decrease of low-flow in the lower Yellow River in recent decades. The current investigation should be helpful for regional water resources management in the Yellow River basin, which is characterized by serious water shortage.

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by a key grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40830639), open Research Grant from the Key Sediment Lab of the Ministry for Water Resources (2008001), National Key Technology R&D Program (2007BAC03A060301) and grant from Ministry of Water Resources (200701039), key Research Grant from Chinese Ministry of Education (308012),. Thanks to the chief-editor Prof. George Christakos, associate editor and two anonymous referees for their constructive comments on the earlier manuscript, which lead to a great improvement of the final paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulics Engineering, Hohai University, 210098, Nanjing, China

    Tao Yang, Xi Chen, Gui-Hua Lu & Zhen-Chun Hao

  2. Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, 450003, Zhenzhou, China

    Tao Yang

  3. Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Blindern, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Chong-Yu Xu

  4. CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA, 6913, Australia

    Quanxi Shao

  5. Hydrology Bureau, Yellow River Conservancy Commission, 450004, Zhengzhou, China

    Zhen-Chun Hao

  6. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, 430072, Wuhan, China

    Tao Yang

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  1. Tao Yang
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  2. Chong-Yu Xu
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  3. Quanxi Shao
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  4. Xi Chen
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  5. Gui-Hua Lu
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Correspondence to Quanxi Shao.

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Yang, T., Xu, CY., Shao, Q. et al. Temporal and spatial patterns of low-flow changes in the Yellow River in the last half century. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 24, 297–309 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-009-0318-y

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