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Climatic causes of ecological and environmental variations in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers of China

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

In the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers of China, glaciers, frozen ground, the hydrological system, and alpine vegetation have changed over the past decades years. Climatic causes of these variations have been analyzed using mean monthly air temperature and monthly precipitation between 1956 and 2000, and monthly evaporation from φ20 evaporation pans between 1961 and 1996. In the source region of the Yangtze River, lower temperature and plentiful precipitation during the 1960s and continuing into the early 1980s triggered a glacier advance that culminated in the early 1990s, while a robust temperature increase and precipitation decrease since 1986 has forced glaciers to retreat rapidly since 1995. Permafrost degradation is another consequence of the climatic warming. The variations in the hydrological system and alpine vegetation are controlled mainly by the climate during the warm season. Warmer and drier summer climate is the major cause of a degradation of the vegetation, desiccation of the high-cold marshland, a decrease in the areas and numbers of lakes and rivers in the middle and north source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, and a reduction in surface runoff in the source region of the Yangtze River for the last 20 years. The causes of eco-environmental change in Dari area, near the outlet from the source area of the Yellow River, are different from those elsewhere in the study area. A noticeable reduction in runoff in the source region of the Yellow River and degradation of alpine vegetation in Dari area are closely related to the permafrost degradation resulting from climate warming.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40301010, No. 40401012, and No. 40371026), a special fund for persons completing an excellent PhD Thesis, and President award of Chinese Academy of Science. The authors thank Professor Wang Genxu, Researchers Liu Shiyin, Zhao Lin, and Ye Baisheng very much for their good suggestions to us. Especially, we thank Mr. Roger LeB. Hooke very much for his careful revision in English language and giving valuable advice to us. We are grateful to associate editor Dr. Philip LaMoreaux and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions leading to significant improvement in the paper. The authors also thank all persons providing their help.

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  1. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Jianping Yang, Yongjian Ding & Rensheng Chen

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  1. Jianping Yang
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  2. Yongjian Ding
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  3. Rensheng Chen
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Correspondence to Jianping Yang.

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Yang, J., Ding, Y. & Chen, R. Climatic causes of ecological and environmental variations in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers of China. Environ Geol 53, 113–121 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0623-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0623-4

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