Reconstructed eight-century streamflow in the Tibetan Plateau reveals contrasting regional variability and strong nonstationarity

Short instrumental streamflow records in the South and East Tibetan Plateau (SETP) limit understanding of the full range and long-term variability in streamflow, which could greatly impact freshwater resources for about one billion people downstream. Here we reconstruct eight centuries (1200−2012 C....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2022-10, Vol.13 (1), p.6416-6416, Article 6416
Main Authors: Wu, Yenan, Long, Di, Lall, Upmanu, Scanlon, Bridget R., Tian, Fuqiang, Fu, Xudong, Zhao, Jianshi, Zhang, Jianyun, Wang, Hao, Hu, Chunhong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/106/242
704/242
Asia
Drought
Droughts
Freshwater resources
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Moisture effects
Monsoons
multidisciplinary
Regions
Rivers
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Stream discharge
Stream flow
Tibet
Variability
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Summary:Short instrumental streamflow records in the South and East Tibetan Plateau (SETP) limit understanding of the full range and long-term variability in streamflow, which could greatly impact freshwater resources for about one billion people downstream. Here we reconstruct eight centuries (1200−2012 C.E.) of annual streamflow from the Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas in five headwater regions across the SETP. We find two regional patterns, including northern (Yellow, Yangtze, and Lancang-Mekong) and southern (Nu-Salween and Yarlung Zangbo-Brahmaputra) SETP regions showing ten contrasting wet and dry periods, with a dividing line of regional moisture regimes at ~32°−33°N identified. We demonstrate strong temporal nonstationarity in streamflow variability, and reveal much greater high/low mean flow periods in terms of duration and magnitude: mostly pre-instrumental wetter conditions in the Yarlung Zangbo-Brahmaputra and drier conditions in other rivers. By contrast, the frequency of extreme flows during the instrumental periods for the Yangtze, Nu-Salween, and Yarlung Zangbo-Brahmaputra has increased by ~18% relative to the pre-instrumental periods. A new study reconstructs eight-century streamflow over the South and East Tibetan Plateau, showing that observations underestimate the full range of long-term streamflow variability and revealing contrasting regional variability in streamflow between south and north study regions.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-022-34221-9