The study of snow and ice melt (SIM) is important in water-scarce arid regions for the assessment of water supply and quality. These studies involve unique difficulties, especially in the calibration of hydro-models...The study of snow and ice melt (SIM) is important in water-scarce arid regions for the assessment of water supply and quality. These studies involve unique difficulties, especially in the calibration of hydro-models because there is no direct way to continuously measure the SIM at hydrostations. The recursive digital filter (RDF) and the isotopic hydro-geochemical method (IHM) were coupled to separate the SIM from eight observed series of alpine streamflows in northwestern China. Validation of the calibrated methods suggested a good capture of the SIM characteristics with fair accuracy in both space and time. Applications of the coupled methods in the upper reaches of the Hei River Basin (HRB) suggested a double peak curve of the SIM fraction to streamflow for the multi-component recharged (MCR) rivers, while a single peak curve was suggested for the rainfall-dominant recharged (RDR) rivers. Given inter-annual statistics of the separation, both types of the alpine rivers have experienced an obvious decrease of SIM since 196os. In the past 10 years, the SIM in the two types of rivers has risen to the levels of the 1970s, but has remained lower than the level of the 1960s. The study provided a considerable evidence to quantify the alpine SIMbased on the separation of observed data series at gauge stations. Application of the coupled method could be helpful in the calibration and validation of SIM-related hydro-models in alpine regions.展开更多
基金supported by the following grants:National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2009CB421306)the NSFC Project (Grant Nos. 41001014, 51209119) NSFC Projects (Grant Nos. 41240002, 91225301)+1 种基金the NSFC Key Project (Grant No. 91125010)the MAIRS Project funded by the NASA LCLUC Program (Grant No. NNX08AH50G)
文摘The study of snow and ice melt (SIM) is important in water-scarce arid regions for the assessment of water supply and quality. These studies involve unique difficulties, especially in the calibration of hydro-models because there is no direct way to continuously measure the SIM at hydrostations. The recursive digital filter (RDF) and the isotopic hydro-geochemical method (IHM) were coupled to separate the SIM from eight observed series of alpine streamflows in northwestern China. Validation of the calibrated methods suggested a good capture of the SIM characteristics with fair accuracy in both space and time. Applications of the coupled methods in the upper reaches of the Hei River Basin (HRB) suggested a double peak curve of the SIM fraction to streamflow for the multi-component recharged (MCR) rivers, while a single peak curve was suggested for the rainfall-dominant recharged (RDR) rivers. Given inter-annual statistics of the separation, both types of the alpine rivers have experienced an obvious decrease of SIM since 196os. In the past 10 years, the SIM in the two types of rivers has risen to the levels of the 1970s, but has remained lower than the level of the 1960s. The study provided a considerable evidence to quantify the alpine SIMbased on the separation of observed data series at gauge stations. Application of the coupled method could be helpful in the calibration and validation of SIM-related hydro-models in alpine regions.