In contrast to widespread glacier retreat evidenced globally, glaciers in the Karakoram region have exhibited positive mass balances and general glacier stability over the past decade. Snow and glacier meltwater from the Karakoram and the western Himalayas, which supplies the Indus River Basin, provide an essential source of water to more than 215 million people, either directly, as potable water, or indirectly, through hydroelectric generation and irrigation for crops. This study focuses on water resources in the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) which combines the ranges of the Hindukush, Karakoram and Himalaya (HKH). Specifically, we focus on the Gilgit River Basin (GRB) to inform more sustainable water use policy at the sub-basin scale. We employ two degree-day approaches, the Spatial Processes in Hydrology (SPHY) and Snowmelt Runoff Model (SRM), to simulate runoff in the GRB during 2001-2012. The performance of SRM was poor during July and August, the period when glacier melt contribution typically dominates runoff. Consequently, SPHY outperformed SRM, likely attributable to SPHY's ability to discriminate between glacier, snow, and rainfall contributions to runoff during the ablation period. The average simulated runoff revealed the prevalent snowmelt contribution as 62%, followed by the glacier melt 28% and rainfall 10% in GRB. We also assessed the potential impact of climate change on future water resources, based on two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). We estimate that summer flows are projected to increase by between 5.6% and 19.8% due to increased temperatures of between 0.7 and 2.6 degrees C over the period 2039-2070. If realized, increased summer flows in the region could prove beneficial for a range of sectors, but only over the short to medium term and if not associated with extreme events. Long-term projections indicate declining water resources in the region in terms of snow and glacier melt.
【中文摘要】本研究选择中国西北黑河上游为代表性流域。以云雪区分以及地形归一化模型消除地形影响为基础,通过使用CIVCO地形校正及NDSI阈值调整,发展了适合我国山区的MODIS雪盖产品算法。在MODIS雪覆盖比例产品算法S模型的基础上,发展了提取山区积雪覆盖比例的C模型。C模型的平均雪盖率、平均绝对误差、均方根误差都优于S模型,模型拟合的相关系数都在80%以上。在新的遥感制图方法的基础上,探讨了中国西北山区积雪以及融雪径流水资源对气候变化的响应并预测其变化趋势。应用地面台站观察资料,分析了1956-2008年中国西北山区气候变化状况与规律,模拟并情景分析了融雪径流的变化。结果表明:近50年来,黑河流域上游气候变暖的趋势相当明显。流域中三个代表性的气象台站,其气温分别上升了2.1℃,2.6℃,2.9℃。融雪径流量从1970年开始直到现在,有明显的增长。通过不同的假设情景分析发现,在气温上升的情势下,融雪径流峰值提前的幅度随气温增加的幅度而加大,但是单独的气温上升对融雪径流的总量并没有太大影响。模拟径流值随着降水的增加有显著的增加,而融雪径流发生并没有明显的提前。
2007-01