Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2014, Vol. 69 ›› Issue (5): 619-631.doi: 10.11821/dlxb201405005

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Phases and periodic changes of water discharge and sediment load from the Yellow River to the Bohai Sea during 1950-2011

REN Huiru1,2, LI Guosheng1, CUI Linlin1,2, HE Lei1,2   

  1. 1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China;
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2013-09-09 Revised:2014-12-23 Online:2014-05-20 Published:2014-05-20
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41271026

Abstract: On the basis of situ data observed at Lijin station from 1950 to 2011, the regional differences and abrupt changes of water discharge and sediment load are divided into different phases using the methods of Mann-Kendall test and order clustering. The abrupt change of water discharge and sediment load existed at Lijin station in 1985, and discharge and sediment decreased insignificantly from 1985 to 2011. The characteristics of the periodicities of water discharge and sediment load from the Yellow River estuary are studied by using power-spectrum, cross-spectrum and wavelet analysis. The periodic oscillations of water discharge and sediment load from the Yellow River are found at inter-annual scale and decadal scale. The significant correlation coefficients between two datasets occur at the scales of 2.86a, 4.44a and 13.33a. The phase characteristics of water discharge and sediment load are related to the precipitation and human activities; after the 1980s the decreases are mainly induced by human activities, especially due to the use of the reservoirs, water diversion and engineering projects related with soil and water conservation. Moreover, the inter-annual and decadal fluctuation of water discharge and sediment load from the Yellow River are caused directly by the oscillation of the precipitation at the drainage basin, and the rudimentary mechanism of multi-scale fluctuations are due to the northwest Pacific subtropical high, whose location oscillates in inter-annual and decadal periods, as well as sun spot and precipitation,. The decadal scale periodic oscillation of water discharge and sediment load from the Yellow River cause abrupt changes. The main reason for the stepwise step of phase is related with human activities.

Key words: abrupt analysis, multi-scale oscillation, Yellow River, water discharge and sediment load, Bohai Sea