Variability and trend in the hydrology of the Yangtze River, China: Annual precipitation and runoff

Abstract

The catchment of the Yangtze River in China has a long history of human occupation and the intensity of human impacts has increased markedly since economic reforms began in the late 1970s. In order to try to assess the impact of these changes on the hydrology of the river, we analyse both the annual flows of the Yangtze River and annual temperature and precipitation for the Yangtze catchment for the period 1955-2011 and for the three sections of the catchment, Upper, Middle and Lower as defined by the location of the gauging stations at Yichang, Hankou and Datong respectively. Mean annual temperature increases downstream from 12.7. °C in the Upper to 16.0. °C in the Lower section. A signific..