The standardized FAO56 Penman-Monteith model, which has been the most reasonable method in both humid and arid climatic conditions, provides reference evapotranspiration (ETo) estimates for planning and efficient use of agricultural water resources. And sensitivity analysis is important in understanding the relative importance of climatic variables to the variation of reference evapotranspiration. In this study, a non-dimensional relative sensitivity coefficient was employed to predict responses of ETo to perturbations of four climatic variables in the Ejina oasis northwest China. A 20-year historical dataset of daily air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and daily sunshine duration in the Ejina oasis was used in the analysis. Results have shown that daily sensitivity coefficients exhibited large fluctuations during the growing season, and shortwave radiation was the most sensitive variable in general for the Ejina oasis, followed by air temperature, wind speed and relative humidity. According to this study, the response of ETo can be preferably predicted under perturbation of air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and shortwave radiation by their sensitivity coefficients.
Investigation of water sources and flow pathways is crucial to understand and evaluate the characteristics of surface water and groundwater systems. This article aims to identify the hydrochemical and hydrological processes in different landscape zones based on hydrochemical analyses of various samples, including samples from glacier, snow, frozen soil meltwater, surface water, groundwater, and precipitation, in the alpine cold region of China. Hydrochemical tracers indicated that chemical compositions are characterized by the Ca-HCO 3 type in the glacier-snow zone; the Mg-Ca-SO 4 type in the alpine cold desert zone; the Ca-HCO 3 -SO 4 type in the marsh meadow zone; the Ca-Mg-HCO 3 type in the alpine shrub zone; and the Ca-Na-SO 4 type in the mountain grassland zone. An end-member mixing model was used for hydrograph separation. The results showed that the Mafengou River in the wet season was recharged by groundwater in the alpine cold desert and alpine shrub zones (67%), surface runoff in the glacier-snow zone (11%), surface runoff in the alpine cold desert zone (8%), thawed water from frozen soil in the marsh meadow and mountain grassland zones (9%), and direct precipitation on the river channel (5%). This study suggests that precipitation from the whole catchment yielded little direct surface runoff; precipitation was mostly transformed into groundwater or interflow and was then concentrated into the river channel. This study provides a scientific basis for evaluation and management of water resources in the basin.
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