Premium
Climate Change Impact on the Tuul River Flow in a Semiarid Region in Mongolia
Author(s) -
Sukhbaatar Chinzorig,
Sajjad Raja Umer,
Lunten Janchivdorj,
Yu SeungHoon,
Lee ChangHee
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143016x14798353399223
Subject(s) - environmental science , precipitation , evapotranspiration , climate change , hydrology (agriculture) , streamflow , climatology , drainage basin , geography , ecology , geology , meteorology , geotechnical engineering , cartography , biology
This study investigated the impact of climate change on the Tuul River flow in a semiarid region in Mongolia using statistical methods and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The authors found that the precipitation showed cyclic variability (three dry and two wet periods) at inter‐ and multi‐decadal scales throughout the study period (1945–2012). Both river flow and actual evapotranspiration (ET) showed a positive relationship with precipitation. In addition, the river flow further decreased due to increased water loss in percentage via actual ET even though the amount of actual ET decreased during dry periods. A significant increase in air temperature by 1.3 to 1.8 °C was recorded during latest dry period (1996–2012). Increase in temperature resulted in an added stressor, where water loss in percentage via actual ET increased more and resulted in an additional decrease in the river flow. This study concluded that precipitation has a stronger influence on the Tuul River flow than temperature.