Quantifying the impact of landscape changes on hydrological variables in the alpine and cold region using hydrological model and remote sensing data

Abstract

Quantifying the impact of landscape on hydrological variables is essential for the sustainable development of water resources. Understanding how landscape changes influence hydrological variables will greatly enhance the understanding of hydrological processes. Important vegetation parameters are considered in this study by using remote sensing data and VIC-CAS model to analyse the impact of landscape changes on hydrology in upper reaches of the Shule River Basin (URSLB). The results show there are differences in the runoff generation of landscape both in space and time.With increasing altitude, the runoff yields increased, with approximately 79.9% of the total runoff generated in the high mountains (4200-5900 m), and mainly consumed in the mid-low mountain region. Glacier landscape produced the largest runoff yields (24.9% of the total runoff), followed by low-coverage grassland (LG; 22.5%), alpine cold desert (AL; 19.6%), mid-coverage grassland (MG; 15.6%), bare land (12.5%), high-coverage grassland (HG; 4.5%) and shrubbery (0.4%). The relative capacity of runoff generation by landscapes, from high to low, was the glaciers, AL, LG, HG, MG, shrubbery and bare land. Furthermore, changes in landscapes cause hydrological variables changes, including evapotranspiration, runoff and baseflow. The study revealed that HG, MG, and bare land have a positive impact on evapotranspiration and a negative impact on runoff and baseflow, whereas AL and LG have a positive impact on runoff and baseflow and a negative impact on evapotranspiration. In contrast, glaciers have a positive impact on runoff. After the simulation in four vegetation scenarios, we concluded that the runoff regulation ability of grassland is greater than that of bare land. The grassland landscape is essential since it reduced the flood peak and conserved the soil and water.

Future Projection of Extreme Precipitation Indices over the Qilian Mountains under Global Warming

“…A previous study [ 52 ] suggested that there are differences in the precipitation intensity and frequency of precipitation in low-land to alpine areas. Thus, the interpolation method has always been inadequate in the application of precipitation in alpine areas [ 53 ]. Therefore, the improvement of precipitation observation accuracy in the Qilian Mountains is an important basis for future research on precipitation and extreme precipitation.…”

Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Based Soil Erosion Susceptibility Mapping in Northwestern Himalayas: A Case Study of Central Kashmir Province

“…Land Use/Land Cover (LULC): LULC plays a vital role in many hydrological processes such as infiltration, runoff velocity, evapotranspiration, and soil erosion [66]. The LULC map was derived from Cartosat 1B data (2.5 m resolution) using on screen digitization and selective ground truthing.…”

The Evolution of Hillslope Hydrology: Links Between Form, Function and the Underlying Control of Geology

“…The understanding of how the hydrological response co‐evolves with hillslope structure is crucial for the evaluation of how hydrological systems will adapt to changes in climate (Montagne & Cornu, 2010) or anthropogenic disturbances (Cui et al., 2021). Human activities, such as changes in land cover and use, landscape degradation, and anthropogenic climate change, have a profound impact on water quantity, quality, and temporal availability (Bronstert et al., 2002; Jin et al., 2021). Glacier retreat, bark beetle infestations, surface mine closures, land conversion for agriculture, and diverse land use practices are only a few examples which can profoundly influence local hydrology (Goeking & Tarboton, 2020; Haeberli, 2017; Ross et al., 2021; Truong et al., 2022).…”