Hydraulic redistribution in the Inner Mongolia Huangfuchuan basins under different climate scenarios

Abstract

This paper describes the scaling up to a day scale of the Ryel hour scale model incorporating the process of hydraulic redistribution (HR). The Ryel model was applied to the Inner Mongolia Huangfuchuan basins to analyze transpiration, evaporation and stomatal conductance of Artemisia tridentate, and to indicate the added value of the feedback by comparing simulations with and without incorporating HR. Five climate scenarios were designed based on 40-y continuous climate data from the study area and the response of HR to the different climate scenarios was modeled. Under 1991 climate conditions, cumulative transpiration and evaporation with HR during the growing season were 161.7 mm and 206.14 mm, respectively, compared with transpiration of 140.7 mm and evaporation of 174.2 mm without HR. Under the five different climate change scenarios, HR influenced evaporation more than transpiration. The effect of HR on transpiration, evaporation and stomatal conductance was very different among the scenarios. Inclusion of HR gave rise to the largest increase in transpiration and evaporation under the T2P0 scenario and the smallest under the T2P2 scenario, but transpiration and evaporation decreased under the T0P-2 scenario. Stomatal conductance significantly increased with the inclusion of HR. The model used in this study has potential benefits for incorporating HR into soil processes, such as water movement and mass transfer.

Keywords

climate change / hydraulic redistribution (HR) / transpiration / evaporation / stomatal conductance