1. Multi-scale streamflow variability responses to precipitation over the headwater catchments in southern China.
- Author
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Niu, Jun, Chen, Ji, Wang, Keyi, and Sivakumar, Bellie
- Subjects
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STREAMFLOW , *METEOROLOGICAL precipitation , *WATERSHEDS , *HYDROLOGIC models , *MULTIPLE correspondence analysis (Statistics) - Abstract
This paper examines the multi-scale streamflow variability responses to precipitation over 16 headwater catchments in the Pearl River basin, South China. The long-term daily streamflow data (1952–2000), obtained using a macro-scale hydrological model, the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, and a routing scheme, are studied. Temporal features of streamflow variability at 10 different timescales, ranging from 6 days to 8.4 years, are revealed with the Haar wavelet transform. The principal component analysis (PCA) is performed to categorize the headwater catchments with the coherent modes of multi-scale wavelet spectra. The results indicate that three distinct modes, with different variability distributions at small timescales and seasonal scales, can explain 95% of the streamflow variability. A large majority of the catchments (i.e. 12 out of 16) exhibit consistent mode feature on multi-scale variability throughout three sub-periods (1952–1968, 1969–1984, and 1985–2000). The multi-scale streamflow variability responses to precipitation are identified to be associated with the regional flood and drought tendency over the headwater catchments in southern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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