Hydrology Research at the Qilian
Ecology and Hydrology Research Station,
China
Junfeng Liu
Cold & Arid Regions Environmental & Engineering
Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences
September, 2015
Outline
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•
•
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Introduction
Field experiment
Model Development
Preliminary results
1、Introduction
43.5% of total land area
Arid
Area
Semi-Arid
Region
Global warming - Shrinking cryosphere The water problems of hydrological process
change
 Precipitation amount in cold region
 Hydrological Process of cryosphere
 Different Vegetation Belts/Underlying
surface function
Cold
Regions
 Featured hydrological model of Alpine
area
high altitude features （70%）  High latitude area water cycle
The birthplace of most rivers of
china and neighbors
Lack of comprehensive and
Water tower of arid and semi-arid
systematic observation data
region
1、Introduction
1、Introduction
1、Introduction
1、Introduction
 Inland river：water comes from mountain
Water supply－Oasis
No water－Desert
Water －Ecology －Economy conflict
Knowing about the
hydrological processes
in the mountainous
watershed is required
1、Introduction
Basic Information
Snow & Glacier
Alpine meadow
Wetlands
Overlying graze
Arid
Drought
Landscape
Area：10,009km2
Stations in：4
Runoff：16108m3
Altitude
High：5110m
Low：1720m
Mean：3684m
Land use
Meadow：72.4%
Subnival：22.2%
Forest：2.5%
Glacier: 0.6%, 204
1、Introduction
1、Introduction
Hulu watershed
1、Altitude：2960～4820m
Heihe moun. watershed：91.7％
2、Typical landscapes can be found here!
Hulu watershed
23.1km2
2960m
Alpine grassland
Alpine meadow
River brushes
Hillside brushes
Forest
Permafrost
3907m
Subnival
4820m
Snow
Glacier
1、Introduction
 Glacier hydrology
出山径流预测
Runoff
prediction
…模型
寒区水循环
Alpine
过程与机理
hydrology
…学科体系
Waterhead
水源地保护
protect
…area
适应与减缓
 Alpine hydrology
 Alpine ecohydrology
 Snow hydrology
 Permafrost hydrology
 Nival subnival hydrology
 Shrub hydrology
 Forest hydrology
 Ground water
 Boundarylayer
 Spatial parametrization
 
1、Introduction
 Hydrology
 Eco-hydrology
Our station
Point
Slope
Experimental watershed
Subwat.
Measurement
Small
wat.
House

Simulation
Precipitation
Theory and data
Evapotranspiration
Runoff
Water cycle
Distributed hydro. model
Energy & water balance
Eco-hydro. effects
Glacier hydrology
Snow hydrology
Permafrost hydro.
Process
Upscaling methods
2、 Field experiment
Observed from September, 2015
2、Field experiment: Basement
2、Field experiment: Meteorology
A. 8 meteorological towers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Precipitation
Evapotranspiration
Air temperature
Relative humidity
Wind direction/speed
Solar radiation
Sunshine hours
Surface temperature
Soil heat flux
8-layer soil T
8-layer soil water
Snow depth
Air pressure
CO2 flux
B. 1 meteorological field
2、Field experiment: Meteorology
2、Field experiment: Meteorology
2、Field experiment: Meteorology
2、Field experiment: Meteorology
total 8 weighted rainfall recorders( 2980~4640m)
2、Field experiment: Meteorology
Gauge measured
precipitation calibration
Pit gauge
Alter
shelter
DFIR
2、Field experiment: Meteorology
Wireless data transfer system
2、Field experiment: Meteorology
Mannually
Auto
Evapotranspiration
2、Field experiment: Glacier
Shiyi glacier
Stakes
2、Field experiment: Glacier
Sublimation
GPS、GPR、Lidar
2、Field experiment: Glacier
Camera: galcier movement
Auto stakes
2、Field experiment: Snow
Fixed point：13 snow thickness recorders
Snow depth
Snow pillow and flowcapt sensor
SnowFork
Field experiment: Snow
Field experiment: Snow
Fixed line：depth, density and water content
Field experiment: Snow
Watershed
Terrestrial
photographic
methods
Field experiment: Frozen soil
 Content：soil temperature and water content
 Goal：SVATs
Grassland
Wetland
Meadow
Subnival
3240m
Shurb meadow
Field experiment: Frozen soil
 Frozen depth
 Soil temperature
 Borehole drilling
Frozen depth
8-layer soil T
10-20m boreholes
Field experiment: Frozen soil
Surace T
（16）
1. Aspect
2. Strike
3. Slope
4. Grassland and
bare soil
Aspect
Field experiment: Forest and shrub
Interception and infiltration
Auto rain gauge
Alpine willow
Base 2
Potentilla fruticosa
Spiny
Picea crassifolia
Caragana jubata
Field experiment: Forest and shrub
Shurb and meadow runoff over plot scale
Adjacent plots with same slope and aspect
Field experiment: Forest and shrub
Field experiment: Forest and shrub
Evapotranspiration
Sapflow
Field experiment: Forest and shrub
24 Lysimeters of Shrubs
鬼见愁锦鸡儿
黑刺
金露梅
高山柳
Field experiment: Ground water
Field experiment: Subwatershed
Sub-watershed for alpine
meadow & seasonal frozen soil
3050～3570m，1.1km2
Field experiment: Subwatershed
Sub-watershed for subnival
Field experiment: Runoff
1. Measured 3tims/day manually
2. 2 hobos (1times/half hour)
3. Terrestrial photographic methods
Field experiment: Ecology
Ecological quadrats（30）
Field experiment: Ecology
Soil and vegetation survey
Field experiment: Microorganism
Field experiment: Aerial remote sensing
2012
HiWater
Field experiment: Website
http://hhsy.casnw.net/
Field experiment: Annual report
3、Model Development
Development of a Integrated hydrological models in
Alpine region; Parameter localization, observation-based
4、Preliminary results -Heihe mountain basin
Hydrological functions under different types
Heihe mountain basin
Alpine subnival
20%
Alpine meadow 46%
Swamp meadow
4%
Alpine grassland24%
What is runoff generation region?
What is Water consumption region?
4、Preliminary results -Heihe mountain basin
Hydrological functions under different types
降水或蒸散发量 /mm
800
700
684.8 降水量（mm）
P( mm )
682.4 E/P (%)
蒸散发量/降水量（%）
E( mm )
蒸散发量（mm）
600
482.7 500
400
304.1 300
477.9 371.1 367.3 469.4 436.0 407.6 391.7 474.9 468.4 347.8 264.6 255.5 185.9 200
100
397.2 429.2 44.4 38.8 76.9 76.8 86.8 111.3 108.1 74.3 0
Glacier
A- meadow
Grassland
Supuce Sabina Shrub
冰川subnival
高山寒漠
高寒草甸
高寒草原Swamp
沼泽化草甸云杉圆柏林
灌木 Others
其他 Desert
荒漠
下垫面类型
For Spruce Sabina, Shrub and Desert
Evapotranspiration is greater than precipitation
Water comes from the Mountainous region
4、Preliminary results -Heihe mountain basin
Hydrological functions under different types
70
1.07 60.5 面积比率
60
46.2 0.8
0.64 40
0.6
30
19.9 20
0.5 3.5 23.5 18.2 0.22 0.33 0.29 0.18 8.7 4.4 3.0 1.9 0.12 1.8 0.5 2.0 0.9 0
冰川
高山寒漠 高寒草甸 高寒草原 沼泽化草甸云杉圆柏林
灌木
0.4
0.27 2.0 2.3 0.07 0.2 其他
径流系数
比率 /%
1.2
径流系数
1
50
10
径流贡献率
0.2
0
荒漠
下垫面类型
Runoff coefficient：glacier（1.07）>subnival 0.64）＞Shrub（0.33）＞swamp meadow（0.29）
＞meadow（0.22）＞ grassland（0.18）＞ spruce round Berlin（0.12）> desert（0.07）
Runoff contribution rate（%）： subnival （60.5）> meadow （18.2）>grassland（8.7）>glacier
（ 3.5 ） >swamp meadow （ 3.0 ） >shrub （ 2.0 ） > spruce round Berlin （ 1.8 ） >
mountain desert （0.2）
primary runoff area of subnival （area20%，runoff61%）
meadow/grassland（area70%，runoff27%）
4、Preliminary results -Heihe mountain basin
Hydrological functions under different types
900
2008.10~2014.9
降水和蒸散发量（mm）
800
降水
700
蒸散
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Alpine meadow 2009~2014
Test results of Hulugou Runoff coefficient：0.17
高山寒漠
沼泽草甸
高寒草甸
灌丛草原
高寒草原
0
50
45
5
40
35
30
15
降水量
径流深
20
25
20
15
25
径流深 \mm d-1
Small
Watershed
Results of
hulugou
降水量 \mm d-1
10
10
30
35
2009-1-1
5
0
2009-7-1
2010-1-1
2010-7-1
2011-1-1
2011-7-1
2012-1-1
2012-7-1
Alpine subnival 2009~2012
Runoff coefficient：0.85