Hydrological regions in monsoon Asia

Monsoon Asia is characterized by its diversity of natural and social environments. These environments range from humid tropics to and regions and there exist associated various hydrological phenomena. This paper attempts to characterize the hydrological regions of monsoon Asia based on the water budget calculated using grid-based global datasets. A map of hydrological regions is created by ranking the value of water surplus and deficit. A humid zone with large water Surplus extending from Southeast Asia to the Japanese archipelago, rapid transition from humid to and environments in eastern China, and an and region surrounded by a humid region in continental Southeast Asia are the most remarkable features in monsoon Asia. The map reveals that an essential characteristic of monsoon Asia is the proximity of the and and humid environments. Many water problems and water management practices in a region can be easily understood by plotting them on a map. The boundaries of several large river basins are superimposed on the map, and examined for the water budget and flow regimes. The results are found to explain the regional characteristics of the seasonal runoff regimes satisfactorily. The importance of using a spatial framework for the comparative hydrological study in Monsoon Asia is highlighted. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.