Quantitative effect of land use and land cover changes on green water and blue water in northern part of China

In order to investigate the effect of land use and land cover changes on hydrological processes in northern part of China, a distributed hydrological model was developed and applied in the Laohahe Catchment. Land use and land cover data for representing the vegetative cover over the catchment were obtained by remote sensing. The land cover data were available for 1980, 1989, 1996 and 1999. Daily streamflow measurements were available from 1964 to 2005 and were divided into 4 periods: 1964-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999 and 2000-2005, based on the land cover scenarios. The distributed hydrological model was coupled with a two-source potential evaportranspiration model to simulate daily runoff. Streamflow simulation was conducted for each period under these four land cover scenarios. The results showed that the change in land use and land cover had a significant influence on evapotranspiration and runoff. The land cover data showed that forest land and water body had decreased from 1980 through 1999 and farm land and grass land had increased. This change caused the vegetation interception evaporation and vegetation transpiration to decrease, whereas the soil evaporation tended to increase. Thus the green water decreased, and the blue water increased over the Laohahe Catchment. 2009 Taylor & Francis Group.

From Headwaters to the Ocean: Hydrological Changes and Watershed Management - Proceedings of the International Conference on Hydrological Changes and Management from Headwaters to the Ocean, HYDROCH

Quantitative effect of land use and land cover changes on green water and blue water in northern part of China Conference Paper