Trends in major and minor meteorological variables and their influence on reference evapotranspiration for mid Himalayan region at east Sikkim, India

Abstract： Estimation of evapotranspiration （ET） for mountain ecosystem is of absolute importance since it serves as an important component in balancing the hydrologic cycle. The present study evaluates the performance of original and location specific calibrated Hargreaves equation （HARG） with the estimates of Food and Agricultural Organization （FAO） Penman Monteith （PM） method for higher altitudes in East Sikkim, India. The results show that the uncalibrated HARG model underestimates ET0 by 0.35 mm day^-1 whereas the results are significantly improved by regional calibration of the model. In addition, this paper also presents the variability in the trajectory associated with the climatic variables with the changing climate in the study site. Non- parametric Mann-Kendall （MK） test was used to investigate and understand the mean monthly trend of eight climatic parameters including reference evapotranspiration （ET0） for the period of 1985 - 2009. Trend of ET0 was estimated for the calculations done by FAO PM equation. The outcomes of the trend analysis show significant increasing （p ≤ 0.05） trend represented by higher Z-values, through MK test, for net radiation （Rn）, maximum temperature （Tmax） and minimum temperature （Train）, especially in the first months of the year. Whereas, significant （0.01 ≥ p ≤0.05） decreasing trend in vapor pressure deficit （VPD） and precipitation （P） is observed throughout the year. Declining trend in sunshine duration, VPD and ET0 is found in spring （March - May） and monsoon （June - November） season. The result displays significant （0.01≤ p ≤0.05） decreasing ET0 trend between （June - December） except in July, exhibiting the positive relation with VPD followed by sunshine duration at the station. Overall, the study emphasizes the importance of trend analysis of ET0 and other climatic variables for efficient planning and managing the agricultural practices, in identifying the changes in the meteorological parameters and to accurately assess the hydrologic water balance of the hilly regions.

Analysis and prediction of reference evapotranspiration with climate change in Xiangjiang River Basin, China

Reference evapotranspiration （ETo） is often used to estimate actual evapotranspiration in water balance studies. In this study, the present and future spatial distributions and temporal trends of ETo in the Xiangjiang River Basin （XJRB） in China were analyzed. ETo during the period from 1961 to 2010 was calculated with historical meteorological data using the FAO Penman-Monteith （FAO P-M） method, while ETo during the period from 2011 to 2100 was downscaled from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 （CMIP5） outputs under two emission scenarios, representative concentration pathway 4.5 and representative concentration pathway 8.5 （RCP45 and RCP85）, using the statistical downscaling model （SDSM）. The spatial distribution and temporal trend of ETo were interpreted with the inverse distance weighted （IDW） method and Mann-Kendall test method, respectively. Results show that： （1） the mean annual ETo of the XJRB is 1 006.3 mm during the period from 1961 to 2010, and the lowest and highest values are found in the northeast and northwest parts due to the high latitude and spatial distribution of climatic factors, respectively; （2） the SDSM performs well in simulating the present ETo and can be used to predict the future ETo in the XJRB; and （3） CMIP5 predicts upward trends in annual ETo under the RCP45 and RCP85 scenarios during the period from 2011 to 2100. Compared with the reference period （1961-1990）, ETo increases by 9.8%, 12.6%, and 15.6% under the RCP45 scenario and 10.2%, 19.1%, and 27.3% under the RCP85 scenario during the periods from 2011 to 2040, from 2041 to 2070, and from 2071 to 2100, respectively. The predicted increasing ETo under the RCP85 scenario is greater than that under the RCP45 scenario during the period from 2011 to 2100.

Identification of Dominant Climate Variables on Spatiotemporal Variation in Reference Evapotranspiration on the Loess Plateau,China

Reference evapotranspiration(ET_(0))is a vital component in hydrometeorological research and is widely applied to various aspects,such as water resource management,hydrological modeling,irrigation deployment,and understanding and predicting the influence of hydrologic cycle variations on future climate and land use changes.Quantifying the influence of various meteorological variables on ET_(0) is not only helpful for predicting actual evapotranspiration but also has important implications for understanding the impact of global climate change on regional water resources.Based on daily data from 69 meteorological stations,the present study analyzed the spatiotemporal pattern of ET_(0) and major contributing meteorological variables to ET_(0) from 1960 to 2017 by the segmented re-gression model,Mann-Kendall test,wavelet analysis,generalized linear model,and detrending method.The results showed that the annual ET_(0) declined slightly because of the combined effects of the reduction in solar radiation and wind speed and the increase in vapor pressure deficit(VPD)and average air temperature in the Loess Plateau(LP)during the past 58 yr.Four change points were detected in 1972,1990,1999,and 2010,and the annual ET_(0) showed a zigzag change trend of‘increasing-decreasing-increasing-decreasing-increasing’.Wind speed and VPD played a leading role in the ET_(0) changes from 1960 to 1990 and from 1991 to 2017,respectively.This study confirms that the dominant meteorological factors affecting ET_(0) had undergone significant changes due to global climate change and vegetation greening in the past 58 years,and VPD had become the major factor controlling the ET_(0) changes on the LP.The data presented herein will contribute to increasing the accuracy of predictions on future changes in ET_(0).

Radial profile of sap flow velocity in mature Xinjiang poplar(Populus alba L. var. pyramidalis) in Northwest China

Estimation of the transpiration rate for a tree is generally based on sap flow measurements within the hydro-active stem xylem. In this study, radial variation of sap flow velocity（Js） was investigated at five depths of the xylem（1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 cm under the cambium） in three mature Xinjiang poplar（Populus alba L. var. pyramidalis） trees grown at the Gansu Minqin National Studies Station for Desert Steppe Ecosystem from May to October 2011. Thermal dissipation probes of various lengths manufactured according to the Granier＇s design were installed into each tree for simultaneous observation of the radial patterns of Js through the xylem. The radial patterns were found to fit the four-parameter GaussAmp equation. The peak Js was about 27.02±0.95 kg/（dm2？d） at approximately 3 to 5 cm deep from the cambium of the three trees,and the lowest Js appeared at 1 cm deep in most of the time. Approximately 50% of the total sap flow in Xinjiang poplar occurred within one-third of the xylem from its outer radius, whereas 90% of the total sap flow occurred within two-fifth of the xylem. In addition, the innermost point of the xylem（at 8-cm depth）, which appeared as the penultimate sap flow in most cases during the study period, was hydro-active with Js,8 of 7.55±3.83 kg/（dm2？d）. The radial pattern of Js was found to be steeper in midday than in other time of the day, and steeper diurnal fluctuations were recorded in June, July and August（the mid-growing season）. Maximum differences between the lowest Js（Js,1 or Js,8） and the highest Js（Js,3 or Js,5） from May through October were 12.41, 17.35, 16.30, 18.52, 12.60 and 16.04 g/（cm2？h）, respectively. The time-dependent changes of Js along the radial profile（except at 1-cm depth） were strongly related to the reference evapotranspiration（ET0）. Due to significant radial variability of Js, the mean daily sap flow at the whole-tree level could be over-estimated by up to 29.69% when only a single probe at depth of 2 cm was used. However, the accuracy of the estimation of sap flow in Xinjiang poplar could be significantly improved using a correction coefficient of 0.885.