Evaluating the Non-Stationarity, Seasonality and Temporal Risk to Water Resources in the Wei River Basin

Abstract

Due to the changing climate and human activity, more and more researchers started to focus on non-stationarity in hydrology. In the Wei River Basin, which is the largest tributary of the Yellow River, there is a significant reduction in the total amount of water resources which has been found in past decades. Additionally, the distribution of water resources within the basin is unbalanced, with the lower reaches and southern regions having relatively abundant water resources and other regions lacking these resources. Within this situation, it is important to consider the spatial aspect of water resource management. Four non-stationarity detection methods have been applied to investigate variation in seasonal discharge series. Two meteorological factors have also been analyzed. Based on test results and Köppen Geiger Climate classification, the water resource management has been investigated spatially. As for results, the Baojixia Channel has significant impact on the abrupt change of discharge, while the precipitation and temperature may have an impact on the discharge trend change. In addition, there was no clear evidence to prove that the climate zones impact spatially on the non-stationarity of discharge.

Keywords

• non-stationarity of discharge
• seasonality
• climate zones
• water resources
• Wei River Basin