Response of Streamflow to Climate Changes within a Mountainous Catchment

Beijing Normal University, Haidian Qu, Beijing Shi, China

^* Corresponding author: luiqiang@bnu.edu.cn

Abstract

Climate changes combined with alteration in landuse, alter the hydrological processes and has increased flood risk in urban area. A better understanding of how the climate alter streamflow in the catchment of city surrounding area would help to reduce urban flood risk. In the present study, we assessed the response of streamflow to climate changes in a mountainous catchment of city surrounding area, Dashi River catchment, China. The Distributed Hydrology-Soil-Vegetation Model (DHSVM) was used to simulate the streamflow in different scenarios of climate and landuse changes. Results showed that: (i) DHSVM showed suitable performance in terms of calibration and validation periods; and (ii) Streamflow increased/decreased with increasing/decreasing precipitation, while decreased with increasing air temperature. And the increases or decreases in precipitation can directly lead to the significant corresponding directional changes in the streamflow, especially in summer season. The results would help to understand streamflow response to changes in climate and landuse, and help to reduce the flood risk in the urban regions.