Understanding the impact of mountain landscapes on water balance in the upper Heihe River watershed in northwestern China

Estimating the impact of mountain landscape on hydrology or water balance is essential for the sus- tainable development strategies of water resources. Specifically, understanding how the change of each landscape influences hydrological components will greatly improve the predictability of hydrological responses to mountain landscape changes and thus can help the government make sounder decisions. In the paper, we used the VIC （Variable Infiltration Capacity） model to conduct hydrological modeling in the upper Heihe River watershed, along with a frozen-soil module and a glacier melting module to improve the simulation. The improved model performed satisfactorily. We concluded that there are differences in the runoff generation of mountain landscape both in space and time. About 50% of the total runoff at the catchment outlet were generated in mid-mountain zone （2,900-4,000 m asl）, and water was mainly consumed in low mountain region （1,700-2,900 m asl） because of the higher requirements of trees and grasses. The runoff coefficient was 0.37 in the upper Heihe River watershed. Barren landscape produced the largest runoff yields （52.46% of the total runoff） in the upper Heihe River watershed, fol- lowed by grassland （34.15%）, shrub （9.02%）, glacier （3.57%）, and forest （0.49%）. In order to simulate the impact of landscape change on hydrological components, three landscape change scenarios were designed in the study. Scenario 1, 2 and 3 were to convert all shady slope landscapes at 2,000-3,300 m, 2,000-3,700 m, and 2,000-4,000 m asl respectively to forest lands, with forest coverage rate increased to 12.4%, 28.5% and 42.0%, respectively. The runoff at the catchment outlet correspondingly declined by 3.5%, 13.1% and 24.2% under the three scenarios. The forest landscape is very important in water conservation as it reduced the flood peak and increased the base flow. The mountains as ＂water towers＂ play important roles in water resources generation and the impact of mountain landscapes on hydrology is significant.

A review of the interaction between the cryosphere and atmosphere

The interaction between the cryosphere and atmosphere is an essential and extremely sensitive mutual action process on the earth.Due to global warming and the cryospheric melting,more and more attention has been paid to the interaction process between the cryosphere and atmosphere,especially the feedback of the cryosphere change to the atmosphere.A comprehensive review of the studies on the interaction between the cryosphere and atmosphere is conducted from two aspects:(1)effects of climate change on the cryosphere or responses of the cryosphere to climate change;and(2)feedback of the cryosphere change to the climate.The response of the cryosphere to climate change is lagging.Such a lagging and cumulative effect of temperature rise within the cryosphere have resulted in a rapid change in the cryosphere in the 21st century,and its impacts have become more significant.The feedback from cryosphere change on the climate are omnifarious.Among them,the effects of sea ice loss and snow cover change,especially the Arctic sea ice loss and the Northern Hemisphere snow cover change,are the most prominent.The Arctic amplification(AA)associated with sea ice feedback is disturbing,and the feedback generated by the effect of temperature rise on snow properties in the Northern Hemisphere is also of great concern.There are growing evidence of the impact of the Arctic cryosphere melting on mid-latitude weather and climate.Weakened storm troughs,steered jet stream and amplified planetary waves associated with energy propagation become the key to explaining the links between Arctic cryosphere change and atmospheric circulation.There is still a great deal of uncertainty about how cryosphere change affects the weather and climate through different atmospheric circulation processes at different spatial and temporal scales due to observation and simulation problems.

Key Issues on Cryospheric Changes,Trends and Their Impacts

On the basis of analyzing the importance of cryospheric researches in China and current status of cryospheric sciences in the world, this paper addresses key issues and main contents of present cryospheric sciences in China. The key issues currently addressed are： i） mechanisms of different types of glaciers in response to climate change and the scale-conversion in water resources assessments; ii） modeling of water and heat exchanges between frozen soil and vegetation; iii） parameterization of physical processes in cryosphere as well as coupling with climate models. To gain full clarification of these key issues, works of the following three aspects should be highlighted, i.e., cryospheric processes and responses to climate change, influences of cryospheric changes, and adaptation strategies for cryospheric changes.

Simulation and analysis of river runoff in typical cold regions

It is generally agreed that global warming is taking place, which has caused runoff generation processes and apparently total runoff amount changes in cold regions of Northwestern China. It is absolutely necessary to quantify and analyze earth surface hydrolog- ical processes by numerical models for formulating scientific sustainable development of water resources. Hydrological models became established tools for studying the hydrological cycle, but did not consider frozen soil or glacier hydrology. Thus, they should be improved to satisfy the simulation of hydrological processes in cold regions. In this paper, an energy balance glacier melt model was successfully coupled to the VIC model with frozen soil scheme, thus improving the models performance in a cold catchment area. We performed the improved VIC model to simulate the hydrological processes in the Aksu River Basin, and the simulated results are in good agreement with observed data. Based on modeling hydrological data, the runoff components and their response to climate change were analyzed. The results show： （1） Glacial meltwater recharge accounts fbr 29.2% of runoff for the Toxkan River, and 58.7% for the Kunma Like River. （2） The annual total runoffoftwo branches of the Aksu River show in- creasing trends, increased by about 43.1%, 25.75 X 106 m3 per year for the Toxkan River and by 13.1%, 14.09 ~ l06 m3 per year for the Kunma Like River during the latter 38 years. （3） The annual total runoff of the Toxkan River increased simply due to the increase of non-glacial runoff, while the increase of annual total runoff of the Kunma Like River was the result of increasing gla- cial （42%） and non-glacial runoff （58%）.

Identifying hot spots of long-duration extreme climate events in the northwest arid region of China and implications for glaciers and runoff

China’s Northwest Arid Region(NAR),with dry and cold climate conditions and glaciers widely developed in the high mountains,provides vital water resources for Asia.The consecutive cold,warm,dry and wet days have much higher impacts on the water cycle process in this region than extreme temperature and precipitation events with short durations but high intensities.Parametric and nonparametric trend analysis methods widely used in climatology and hydrology are employed to identify the temporal and spatial features of the changes in the consecutive cold,warm,dry and wet days in the NAR based on China’s 0.5°×0.5°meteorological grid datasets of daily temperature and precipitation from 1961 to 2018.This study found that(1)the consecutive cold days(Cold Spell Duration Indicator,CSDI),and the consecutive dry days(CDD)decreased,while the consecutive warm days(Warm Spell Duration Indicator,WSDI),and the consecutive wet days(CWD)increased from 1961 to 2018,(2)and the eastern Kunlun Mountains were the hot spots where all of these consecutive climate indices changed significantly,(3)and the changes in these consecutive climate indices were highly correlated with the rise in the Global Mean Land/Ocean Temperature Index.The results indicated that winters tended to warmer and dryer and summer became hotter and wetter during 1961–2018 in the NAR under the global warming,which can lead to the sustained glacier retreat and the increase in summer runoff in this region,and the eastern Kunlun Mountains are the area where could face high risks of water scarcity and floods if the changes in these climate indices continue in the future.Given the vulnerability of the socio-economic systems in the NAR to a water shortage and floods,it is most crucial to improve the strategies of water resources management,disaster prevention and risk management for this region under climate change.

The hydrothermal changes of permafrost active layer and their impact on summer rainfall-runoff processes in an alpine meadow watershed,northwest China

The freezing-thawing variation of permafrost active layer increases the complexity of rainfall-runoff processes in alpine river basins,Northwest China.And alpine meadow is the prominent ecosystem in these basins.This study selected a small alpine meadow watershed in the upper reaches of the Shule River Basin,China.We investigated alpine rainfall-runoff processes,as well as impacts of summer thaw depth of active layer,soil temperature and moisture variation on streamflow based on in-situ observations from July 2015 to December 2020.Some hydrologic parameters or indices were calculated using statistical methods,and impacts of permafrost change on river runoff were assessed using the variable infiltration capacity model(VIC).In the alpine meadow,surface soil(0–10 cm depth)of the active layer starts to freeze in mid-October each year,and begins to thaw in early April.Also,the deeper soil(70–80 cm depth)of the active layer starts to freeze in late October,and begins to thaw in late June.Moisture content in shallow soils fluctuates regularly,whereas deeper soils are more stable,and their response to rainstorms is negligible.During active layer thawing,the moisture content increases with soil depth.In the alpine meadow,vertical infiltration only occurred in soils up to 40 cm deep,and lateral flow occurred in0–20 and 60–80 cm deep soils at current rainfall intensity.Summer runoff ratios were 0.06–0.31,and runoff floods show lags of 9.5–23.0 h following the rainfall event in the study area.The freeze–thaw process also significantly impacts runoff regression coefficients,which were 0.0088–0.0654 per hour.Recession coefficient decrease negatively correlates with active layer thawing depth in summer and autumn.Alpine river basin permafrost can effectively increase peak discharge and reduce low flow.These findings are highly significant for rainfall–runoff conversion research in alpine areas of inland rivers.

Editorial for the special issue in memoriam to Prof.Xie Zichu

Prof.Xie Zichu passed away on January 25,2020 in Changsha,Hunan Province,China at the age of 83 years old.Being one of the internationally renowned and highly respected glaciologists of China,this issue is dedicated with all respect in memory of him for his life-long effort and contribution to advance studies on glaciology in China.He has undertaken field investigations on glacier mass balance.

Influences of two patterns of El Ni o on hydrological and meteorological elements in the Hexi Corridor region of China

In this study, two types of E1 Nifio events are distinguished and the correlations between the respective precipitation, temperature, and runoff are analyzed by a 5-point moving average method. Also, changes of the temperature, precipitation, and runoff from mountainous watersheds of the Hexi Corridor region caused by these two types of E1 Nifio events from 1959 to 2005 are studied by the anomaly analysis method. The results indicate that the Hexi Corridor region is strongly influenced by El Nifio： rising tem- peratures and decreasing precipitation and runoff are features of the first E1 Nifio pattern, while decreasing temperature and in- creasing precipitation and runoff characterise the second pattern. The responses of temperature to E1 Nifio events are stronger in plains than in mountain regions, but the responses of precipitation are obvious in both types of regions. The response of runoff to E1 Nifio events is lower than the precipitation and temperature response because runoff from mountainous watersheds has a com- plex generation and concenlration process.

Analysis about the influence on the thermal regime in permafrost regions with different underlying surfaces

In the last several decades, the underlying surface conditions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have changed dramatically, causing permafrost degradation due to climate change and human activities. This change severely influenced the cold regions environment and engineering infrastructure built above permafrost. Permafrost is a product of the interaction between the atmosphere and the ground. The formation and change of permafrost are determined by the energy exchange between earth and atmosphere system. Fieldwork was performed in order to learn how land surface change influenced the thermal regime in permafrost regions. In this article, the field data observed in the Fenghuo Mountain regions was used to analyze the thermal conditions under different underlying surfaces on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Results show that underlying surface change may alter the primary energy balance and the thermal conditions of permafrost. The thermal flux in the permafrost regions is also changed, resulting in rising upper soil temperature and thickening active layer. Vegetation could prevent solar radiation from entering the ground, cooling the ground in the warm season. Also, vegetation has heat insulation and heat preservation functions related to the ground surface and may keep the permafrost stable. Plots covered with black plastic film have higher temperatures compared with plots covered by natural vegetation. The reason is that black plastic film has a low albedo, which could increase the absorbed solar radiation, and also decrease evapotranspiration. The ＂greenhouse effect＂ of transparent plastic film might effectively reduce the emission of long-wave radiation from the surface, decreasing heat loss from the earth＇s surface, and prominently increasing ground surface temperature.

Effects of Soil Hydraulic Properties on Soil Moisture Estimation

Accurate quantification of soil moisture is essential to understand the land surface processes.Soil hydraulic properties influence water transport in soil and thus affect the estimation of soil moisture.However,some soil hydraulic properties are only observable at a few field sites.In this study,the effects of soil hydraulic properties on soil moisture estimation are investigated by using the one-dimensional(1-D)Richards equation at ELBARA,which is part of the Maqu monitoring network over the Tibetan Plateau(TP),China.Soil moisture assimilation experiments are then conducted with the unscented weighted ensemble Kalman filter(UWEnKF).The results show that the soil hydraulic properties significantly affect soil moisture simulation.Saturated soil hydraulic conductivity(Ksat)is optimized based on its observations in each soil layer with a genetic algorithm(GA,a widely used optimization method in hydrology),and the 1-D Richards equation performs well using the optimized values.If the range of Ksat for a complete soil profile is known for a particular soil texture(rather than for arbitrary layers within the horizon),optimized Ksat for each soil layer can be obtained by increasing the number of generations in GA,although this increases the computational cost of optimization.UWEnKF performs well with optimized Ksat,and improves the accuracy of soil moisture simulation more than that with calculated Ksat.Sometimes,better soil moisture estimation can be obtained by using optimized saturated volumetric soil moisture content Ksat.In summary,an accurate soil profile can be obtained by using soil moisture assimilation with optimized soil hydraulic properties.

Global warming weakening the inherent stability of glaciers and permafrost

The Cryosphere has been undergoing a worldwide retreat, as seen in the decrease in the areal extent and volume of glaciers and in the areal extent of permafrost. This paper presents a systematic examination of the inherent stability changes of glaciers and permafrost caused by warming. Various study results suggest that over the past 30 years, the internal temperature of glaciers and permafrost exhibits an overall accelerating warming trend. The warming rate peaked in the mid-2000s and slowed slightly for several years afterward. In recent years, however, the warming rate has seemed to pick up again. The warming of glaciers and permafrost has exerted great impact on their stability, displayed as intensified melting,increased glacier surging, enlargement of supraglacial lakes, and increased permafrost degradation.Even without a future temperature increase, some glaciers will continue to shrink, and the number of surging glaciers will increase. The transition from low-temperature to high-temperature permafrost is a noticeable warning sign of a comprehensive degradation of permafrost. These results indicate that‘‘warming" glaciers and permafrost will exert significant impacts on the hydrology, ecology, and stability of engineering in cold regions.

Monitoring of frozen soil hydrology in macro-scale in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

Monitoring of frozen soil hydrology in macro-scale was performed by Chinese and Japanese scientists from 1997 to 1998. Quality measured data were obtained. Measured data on soil moisture and temperature are preliminarily analyzed. Based on profiles of soil temperature and moisture in individual measured sites, intra-annual freezing and melting process of soil is discussed. Maximum frozen and thawed depths and frozen days in various depths are estimated. The work emphasized the spatial distribution on soil temperature and moisture in macro-scale and the effect of topography on conditions of soil water and heat.

Toward an improved data stewardship and service for environmental and ecological science data in West China

Sharing of scientific data can help scientific research to flourish and facilitate more widespread use of scientific data for the benefit of society.The Environmental and Ecological Science Data Center for West China(WestDC),sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC),aims to collect,manage,integrate,and disseminate environmental and ecological data from western China.It also aims to provide a long-term data service for multidisciplinary research within NSFC’s‘‘Environment and Ecology of West China Research Plan’’(NSFC West Plan).An integrated platform has been developed by the WestDC,and this has the function of data sharing,acting as a knowledge repository.Major data sets developed by the WestDC include basic geographic data,the regionalization of global data set for China,scientific data for cold and arid regions in China,scientific data for the cryosphere in countries that neighbor China,data relating to the inland river basins in northwestern China,and data submitted by the NSFC West Plan projects.In compliance with the‘‘full and open’’data sharing policy,most data in the WestDC can be accessed online.Highlights include detailed data documentation,the integration of data with bibliographic knowledge,data publishing,and data reference.

Climate-driven acceleration of glacier mass loss on global and regional scales during 1961–2016

During the past decades, glacier mass loss is becoming increasingly significant worldwide but knowledge about the acceleration is still limited despite its potentially profound impacts on sea level rise, water resources availability and glacial hazards. In this study, we analyzed the acceleration of glacier mass loss based on in-situ measurements and on the latest compilation dataset of direct and geodetic observations for the period 1961–2016. The results showed that the rate of glacier mass loss has increased worldwide during the past decades. At the global scale, the rate of glacier mass loss has been accelerating at 5.76±1.35 Gt a-2 as well as 0.0074±0.0016 m w.e.a-2 on mass balance(refer to the area-averaged mass change value) during the whole period. At regional scales, for mass change rate, the heavily glacierized regions excluding Antarctic and Subantarctic exhibited a larger acceleration compared to other regions. The highest acceleration of mass change was found in Alaska glaciers(1.33±0.47 Gt a-2) over the full period. As for mass balance, high acceleration occurred on the regions with small glaciers as well as on the heavily glacierized regions. Central Europe exhibited the highest acceleration(0.024±0.0088 m w.e.a-2) during 1961–2016. High level of consistency between the acceleration and temperature implies that climate warming had a significant effect on the accelerating of glacier mass loss. Moreover, acceleration of the contribution from the Greenland ice sheet(0.028 to0.070 mm a-2) and Antarctic ice sheet(0.023 to 0.058 mm a-2) to sea level rise exceeds acceleration of the contribution from global glaciers(0.019±0.013 mm a-2). These results will improve our understanding of the glacier retreat in response to climate change and provide critical information for improving mitigation strategies for impacts that may be caused by glacier melting.

硅酸盐、碳酸盐和硫化物共同风化促使CO_(2)排放

物理侵蚀和化学风化与地质时期地球气候的演化关系一直是热点科学问题[1~3].硅酸盐矿物的化学风化作用是地球历史上碳循环的重要组成部分[1,3~6].尽管地壳和地幔通过岩浆/变质作用向大气中排放了大量CO_(2),但硅酸盐风化作用由于吸收/封存大气CO_(2)(产生碱度或HCO_(3)^(–))而被认为是中和CO_(2)排放的一个关键机制,进而驱动了海洋碳酸盐在百万年时间尺度上发生沉淀并同时向大气中排放CO_(2)(图1(a))[1,4,7,8].

Parameter regionalization of the FLEX-Global hydrological model

Global hydrological models(GHMs) are important tools for addressing worldwide change-related water resource problems from a global perspective. However, the development of these models has long been hindered by their low accuracy. In order to improve the streamflow simulation accuracy of GHMs, we developed a GHM—the FLEX-Global—based on the regionalization of hydrological model parameters. The FLEX-Global model is primarily based on the framework of the FLEX hydrological model coupled with the HAND-based Storage Capacity curve(HSC) runoff generation module to calculate net rainfall, and uses the global river-routing Ca Ma-Flood model to calculate river network routing. This new model allows for streamflow simulation at a spatial resolution of 0.5°×0.5° and a temporal resolution of 1 day in global catchments. To validate FLEX-Global accuracy, the FLEX-Global-simulated streamflow of 26 major rivers distributed in five different climate zones was compared with the observed data from the Global Runoff Data Center(GRDC). Next, the model performance of FLEXGlobal was further verified by comparing it with that of seven existing GHMs with varying accuracy in the five climate zones.Multi-metric evaluation indicated that the streamflow simulation accuracy was improved by the FLEX-Global model with regionalized parameters, especially in the tropical and dry climate zones. This newly-developed GHM with regionalized parameters can provide scientific support for the assessment of climate change impact, optimization of global water resource mangement, simulation of Earth's multi-sphere coupling, and implementation of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project(ISIMIP).

Evaluating Soil Moisture Predictions Based on Ensemble Kalman Filter and SiB2 Model

Soil moisture is an important variable in the fields of hydrology, meteorology, and agriculture, and has been used for numerous applications and forecasts. Accurate soil moisture predictions on both a large scale and local scale for different soil depths are needed. In this study, a soil moisture assimilation and prediction based on the Ensemble Kalman Filter(EnKF) and Simple Biosphere Model(SiB2) have been performed in Meilin watershed, eastern China, to evaluate the initial state values with different assimilation frequencies and precipitation influences on soil moisture predictions. The assimilated results at the end of the assimilation period with different assimilation frequencies were set to be the initial values for the prediction period. The measured precipitation, randomly generated precipitation,and zero precipitation were used to force the land surface model in the prediction period. Ten cases were considered based on the initial value and precipitation. The results indicate that, for the summer prediction period with the deeper water table depth, the assimilation results with different assimilation frequencies influence soil moisture predictions significantly. The higher assimilation frequency gives better soil moisture predictions for a long lead-time. The soil moisture predictions are affected by precipitation within the prediction period. For a short lead-time, the soil moisture predictions are better for the case with precipitation, but for a long lead-time, they are better without precipitation. For the winter prediction period with a lower water table depth, there are better soil moisture predictions for the whole prediction period. Unlike the summer prediction period, the soil moisture predictions of winter prediction period are not significantly influenced by precipitation. Overall, it is shown that soil moisture assimilations improve its predictions.