the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Impacts of human activities and climate variability on green and blue water flows in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China
Abstract. Human activities and climate factors both affect the availability of water resources and the sustainability of water management. Especially in already dry regions, water has become more and more scarce with increasing requirements from growing population, economic development and diet shifts. Although progress has been made in understanding variability of runoff, the impacts of climate variability and human activities on flows of both green water (actual evapotranspiration) and blue water (discharge accumulated in the river network) remain less well understood. We study the spatial patterns of blue and green water flows and the impacts on them of human activities and climate variability as simulated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for an inland Heihe river basin located in Northwest China. The results show that total green and blue water flow increased from 1980 to 2005, mainly as a result of climate variability (upward precipitation trends). Direct human activities did not significantly change the total green and blue water flow. However, land use change led to a transformation of 206 million m3 from green to blue water flow, while farmland irrigation expansion resulted in a transformation of 66 million m3 from blue to green water flow. The synchronous climate variability caused an increase of green water flow by 469 million m3 and an increase of blue water flow by 146 million m3 at the river basin level, while the geographical distribution showed an uneven change even with reductions of water flows in western sub-basins at midstream. The results are helpful to benchmark the water resources in the context of global change in the inland river basins in China. This study also provides a general approach to investigate the impacts of historical human activities and climate variability on green and blue water flows at the river basin level.
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SC C3708: 'Good paper, and one question', Hongkai Gao, 01 Aug 2013
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AC C6126: 'Reply to Comments from H. Gao', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6126: 'Reply to Comments from H. Gao', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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RC C4190: 'comment', Anonymous Referee #1, 16 Aug 2013
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AC C6127: 'Reply to Reviewer #1', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6127: 'Reply to Reviewer #1', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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RC C4431: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #2, 26 Aug 2013
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AC C6128: 'Reply to Reviewer #2', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6128: 'Reply to Reviewer #2', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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RC C4656: 'Interactive comment', Anonymous Referee #3, 05 Sep 2013
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AC C6130: 'Reply to Reviewer #3', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6130: 'Reply to Reviewer #3', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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RC C4705: 'Comment', Anonymous Referee #4, 07 Sep 2013
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AC C6131: 'Reply to Reviewer #4', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6131: 'Reply to Reviewer #4', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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RC C4736: 'Referee Comment', Anonymous Referee #5, 09 Sep 2013
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AC C6132: 'Reply to Reviewer #5', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6132: 'Reply to Reviewer #5', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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EC C6303: 'Editor Comment Part 1', Murugesu Sivapalan, 17 Nov 2013
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EC C6436: 'Editor Comment Part 2', Murugesu Sivapalan, 24 Nov 2013
- Printer-friendly version
- Supplement
-
SC C3708: 'Good paper, and one question', Hongkai Gao, 01 Aug 2013
-
AC C6126: 'Reply to Comments from H. Gao', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
-
AC C6126: 'Reply to Comments from H. Gao', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
-
RC C4190: 'comment', Anonymous Referee #1, 16 Aug 2013
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AC C6127: 'Reply to Reviewer #1', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
-
AC C6127: 'Reply to Reviewer #1', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
-
RC C4431: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #2, 26 Aug 2013
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AC C6128: 'Reply to Reviewer #2', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6128: 'Reply to Reviewer #2', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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RC C4656: 'Interactive comment', Anonymous Referee #3, 05 Sep 2013
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AC C6130: 'Reply to Reviewer #3', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6130: 'Reply to Reviewer #3', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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RC C4705: 'Comment', Anonymous Referee #4, 07 Sep 2013
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AC C6131: 'Reply to Reviewer #4', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6131: 'Reply to Reviewer #4', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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RC C4736: 'Referee Comment', Anonymous Referee #5, 09 Sep 2013
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AC C6132: 'Reply to Reviewer #5', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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AC C6132: 'Reply to Reviewer #5', Junguo Liu, 06 Nov 2013
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EC C6303: 'Editor Comment Part 1', Murugesu Sivapalan, 17 Nov 2013
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EC C6436: 'Editor Comment Part 2', Murugesu Sivapalan, 24 Nov 2013
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Cited
15 citations as recorded by crossref.
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- Spatio-temporal changes in oases in the Heihe River Basin of China: 1963–2013 Y. Xie et al. 10.1080/11956860.2015.1047140
- Quantitatively evaluating the effects of climate factors on runoff change for Aksu River in northwestern China B. Li et al. 10.1007/s00704-014-1341-6
- Restrictive Effects of Water Scarcity on Urban Economic Development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei City Region . Li et al. 10.3390/su11082452
- Soil moisture dynamics across landscape types in an arid inland river basin of Northwest China H. Liu et al. 10.1002/hyp.10444
- Impact of climate change on the blue water footprint of agriculture on a regional scale H. Huang et al. 10.2166/ws.2018.046
- Integrated assessment of the impacts of climate variability and anthropogenic activities on river runoff: a case study in the Hutuo River Basin, China A. Omer et al. 10.2166/nh.2016.229
- Quantifying the effects of climate variability, direct and indirect land use change, and human activities on runoff B. Li et al. 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124684
- Modeling water requirements of major crops and their responses to climate change in the North China Plain X. Luo et al. 10.1007/s12665-015-4400-0
- Spatial variations of river–groundwater interactions from upstream mountain to midstream oasis and downstream desert in Heihe River basin, China Y. Cai et al. 10.2166/nh.2015.072
- Effects of Non-Stationarity on Flood Frequency Analysis: Case Study of the Cheongmicheon Watershed in South Korea S. Kim et al. 10.3390/su10051329
- Impacts of land use change and climate variability on green and blue water resources in the Weihe River Basin of northwest China A. Zhao et al. 10.1016/j.catena.2015.09.018
- Assessment of impact of climate change on the blue and green water resources in large river basins in China C. Chen et al. 10.1007/s12665-014-3782-8
- Assessing Variation in Water Balance Components in Mountainous Inland River Basin Experiencing Climate Change Z. Yin et al. 10.3390/w8100472
