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›› 2016, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (2): 327-335.

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Spatio-temporal patterns of actual evapotranspiration in the Weihe River Basin since 2000

DONG Qing-qing1, ZHAN Che-sheng2, WANG Hui-xiao1, WANG Fei-yu2,3, ZHU Ming-cheng1, NIU Cun-wen4   

  1. 1 College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
    2 Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;
    3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
    4 State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of River Basin Water Cycle, Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
  • Received:2015-11-07 Revised:2016-01-25 Online:2016-03-25

Abstract: Evapotranspiration(ET), the sum of evaporation from soil and transpiration from vegetation, is of vital importance in the hydrologic cycle and governs the water cycle and energy transport among the biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere as a controlling factor. Accurately estimating evapotranspiration is related to issues of climate change, water resources management, crop yield estimation, environmental protection, etc. In recent years, with the development of water resources and ecological problems, particularly the urgent requirement of quantitative water management, quantitative research and pattern analysis of evapotranspiration has important practical significance in rid and semi-arid regions. In this paper, based on MOD16 evapotranspiration product, which were first validated with rainfall, runoff data and global land surface evapotranspiration estimates datasets (MTE), the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of actual evapotranspiration(ET)in the Weihe River Basin during 2000-2013 and the differences for evapotranspiration under different land use types were analyzed with the methods of spatial modeling, trend analysis and standard deviation analysis. The results are as follows: (1)The annual ET showed a slow upward trend and large fluctuations during 2000-2013, with the mean annual ET being 509.8mm. The spatial distribution of mean annual ET was generally high over the south of the Weihe River Basin, but low in the north.(2)The monthly ET showed a unimodal pattern with obvious seasonal difference. It is mainly concentrated from May to September, and its peak and bottom value occurred in August and January, respectively.(3)The areas with evapotranspiration trends of decreased, unchanged, increased accounted for 14.9%, 24.7% and 60.4%, respectively. The characteristics of stability presented moderate.(4)The overall distribution of ET was related to land use types, with forest land being the highest, followed by grassland, farmland and towns, bare being the lowest. Besides, the change reasons of spatiotemporal pattern of ET and the comparison with existing researches were analyzed. The fact that the actual ET lags behind the changes of temperature and precipitation is influenced by various meteorological factors such as the solar radiation, wind speed, relative humidity, soil moisture, vegetation, etc. The impact of human activities on ET mainly lies in the change of land use and cover types, and the accompanying changes of vegetation and soil conditions. The quantitative research of human activities impact still need to be further discussed. This paper investigated the spatial and temporal change in evapotranspiration, explored the reasons for the changes, and is of great significance for the rational exploitation of water resources, improvement of resource utilization and protection of watershed ecological health.

Key words: actual evapotranspiration, MOD16, land use types, spatio-temporal variation

CLC Number: 

  • P426.2