TITLE:
Stream-Flow Response to Climate Change and Human Activities in an Upstream Catchment of Huai River
AUTHORS:
Peng Shi, Miao Wu, Xinxin Ma, Simin Qu, Xueyuan Qiao
KEYWORDS:
Trend and Saltation Analysis, SWAT Model, Climate Change, Human Activities, Stream-Flow
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.2 No.5,
December
18,
2014
ABSTRACT: Climate change and human activities have
great implications for hydrological process and water projects planning. In
order to evaluate the impacts on stream-flow, statistical methods and SWAT
model are applied to this research. The results indicate that the abrupt change
year (1965) of annual stream-flow is chosen as the split point of natural and human
influenced (particularly reservoirs) periods. The calibrated SWAT model is
proved to be applicable in this catchment and is used to simulate the monthly
runoff which can be regarded as the natural runoff induced by climate change. A
major finding of this study is that the reservoir regulations have apparently altered
the monthly and seasonal stream-flow regimes. By quantifying the impacts of
climate variation and human activities, the decreasing trend of annual
stream-flow is found, and human activities are proved to be the dominant role
in the catchment. This research improves our knowledge of hydrological
responses to natural and artificial factors, and provides a better
understanding for the future reservoir regulations.