Spatial and temporal variability of water discharge in the Yellow River Basin.pdf

J. Geogr. Sci. 2012, 22(6): 1013-1033 DOI: 10.1007/s11442-012-0980-8 ? 2012 Science Press Springer-Verlag Received: 2012-02-27 Accepted: 2012-04-25 Foundation: Major National Scientific Research Programs, No.2010CB951202; Special Expenses Program of Scientific Research in Marine Commonweal Industry, No.200805063 Author: Liu Feng (1986–), Ph.D Candidate, specialized in sedimentary dynamic and marine geology. E-mail: liufeng198625@126.com /content/1009-637X Spatial and temporal variability of water discharge in the Yellow River Basin over the past 60 years LIU Feng1, CHEN Shenliang1, DONG Ping2, PENG Jun1 1. State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; 2. Division of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics, College of Art, Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, UK Abstract: Water discharge data of the Yellow River over the past 60 years was analyzed using the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and Mann-Kendall (MK) test methods to identify spatial and temporal variation patterns. Potential connections between water discharge in the Yellow River Basin and El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) were also examined by the cross wavelet and wavelet coherence methods. CWT results show that the periodic oscilla- tions in water discharges had occurred at the temporal scales of 1-, 2- to 4-, 6- to 8- and 10- to 22-year. It was also found that at the annual timescale (1-year) the phase relations be- tween water discharge and ENSO were indistinct probably due to the strong influence by human disturbances. However, over the longer time scales, the phase relation becomes much clearer with an anti-phase relation being found mainly at inter-annual scale (2- to 8-year) and in-phase relation at decadal scale (16- to 22-year). According to the MK test results water discharge at most stations except Tangnaihai have decreased signi