Journal
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES
Volume 118, Issue 15, Pages 8500-8518Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/jgrd.50665
Keywords
discharge; glacier runoff; Tibetan Plateau; hydroclimatology; snow runoff; rainfall runoff
Categories
Funding
- National Basic Research Program of China (973 program) [2010CB951702, 2010CB951101]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41190081, 41171051]
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Fundamental Research Funds to the Central Universities [2010B13814]
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The hydrological regimes for the major river basins in the Tibetan Plateau (TP), including the source regions of the Yellow (UYE), Yangtze (UYA), Mekong (UM), Salween (US), Brahmaputra (UB), and Indus (UI) rivers, were investigated through a land surface model and regression analyses between climate variables and runoff data. A hydrologic modeling framework was established across the TP to link the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) land surface hydrology model with a degree-day glacier-melt scheme (VIC-glacier model) at a 1/12 degrees x1/12 degrees. The model performance was evaluated over the upper basins of the six rivers. The heterogeneity and scarcity of the meteorological stations are the major limitation for hydrological modeling over the TP. The relative contributions to streamflow from rainfall, snowmelt, and glacier melt for the six basins were quantified via the model framework and simulation. The results suggest that monsoon precipitation has a dominant role in sustaining seasonal streamflow over southeastern regions, contributing 65-78% of annual runoff among the UYE, UYA, UM, US, and UB basins. For the UI, the runoff regime is largely controlled by the glacier melt and snow cover in spring and summer. The contribution of glacier runoff is minor for the UYE and UM (less than 2% of total annual flow), and moderate for the UYA and US basins (5-7% of yearly flow), while glacier melt makes up about 12% and 48% of annual flow for the UB and UI basins, respectively.
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