SWAT Literature Database for Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Title:The spatial and temporal contribution of glacier runoff to watershed discharge in the Yarkant River Basin, Northwest China 
Authors:Yin, Z., Q. Feng, S. Liu, S. Zou, J. Li, L. Yang and R.C. Deo 
Year:2017 
Journal:Water 
Volume (Issue):9(3) 
Pages: 
Article ID:159 
DOI:10.3390/w9030159 
URL (non-DOI journals): 
Model:SWAT (modified) 
Broad Application Category:hydrologic only 
Primary Application Category:snowmelt, frozen soil and/or glacier melt processes 
Secondary Application Category:hydrologic assessment 
Watershed Description:Yarkant River, a tributary of the Terim River located in the Karakoram Mountain range in northwest China. 
Calibration Summary: 
Validation Summary: 
General Comments: 
Abstract:In this paper, a glacial module based on an enhanced temperature-index approach was successfully introduced into the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to simulate the glacier runoff and water balance of a glacierized watershed, the mountainous region of the Yarkant River Basin (YRB) in Karakoram. Calibration and validation of the SWAT model were based on comparisons between the simulated and observed discharge with a monthly temporal resolution from 1961 to 2011 for the Kaqun hydrological station. The results reaffirmed the viability of the approach for simulating glacier runoff, as evidenced by a Nash–Sutcliff Efficiency (NSE) of 0.82–0.86 as well as a percentage bias (PBIAS) of -4.5% to 2.4%, for the calibration and validation periods, respectively. Over the last 50 years, the total discharge and glacier runoff both exhibited increasing trends with 0.031 x 10^9 m^3a^1 and 0.011 x 109 m3^a^1. The annual glacier runoff contribution to the streamflow was between 42.3% and 64.5%, with an average of 51.6%, although the glaciers accounted for only 12.6% of the watershed drainage area in the mountainous YRB. The monthly contribution of the glacier runoff ranged from 11.0% in April to 62.1% in August, and the glacier runoff from June to September accounted for about 86.3% of the annual glacier runoff. Runoff from the mountainous regions above 5000 m a.s.l. accounted for 70.5% of the total discharge, with glacier runoff contributions being approximately 46.4%. 
Language:English 
Keywords:glacier runoff contribution; distributed hydrological modeling; Yarkant River Basin; soil and water assessment tool (SWAT); Karakoram