SWAT Literature Database for Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Title:Spatiotemporal Impacts of climate, land cover change and direct human activities on runoff variations in the Wei River Basin, China 
Authors:Li, Y., J. Chang, Y. Wang, W. Jin and A. Guo 
Year:2016 
Journal:Water 
Volume (Issue):8(6) 
Pages: 
Article ID:220 
DOI:10.3390/w8060220 
URL (non-DOI journals): 
Model:SWAT 
Broad Application Category:hydrologic only 
Primary Application Category:climate change and land use change 
Secondary Application Category:reservoirs, ponds, lakes and/or other impoundment effects  
Watershed Description:134,800 km^2 Wei River, a tributary of the Yellow River located in north central China. 
Calibration Summary: 
Validation Summary: 
General Comments: 
Abstract:Previous studies that quantified variations in runoff have mainly focused on the combined impacts of climate and human activities or climate and land cover change. Few have separated land cover change from human activities, which is critical for effective management of water resources. This study aims to investigate the impact of changing environmental conditions on runoff using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model; we examined three categories: climate, land cover change and direct human activities. The study area was theWei River Basin, a typical arid to semi-arid basin that was divided into five sub-zones (UZ, MZ, DZ, JZ and BZ). Our results showed the following: (1) the calibrated SWAT model produced satisfactory monthly flow processes over the baseline period from 1978 to 1986; (2) compared to the baseline period, the impact of climatic variations decreased and the impact of direct human activities increased from the 1990s to the 2000s, while the impact of land cover change was generally stable; and (3) climatic variations were the main cause of runoff declines over the entire basin during the 1990s and in the UZ, MZ and JZ areas during the 2000s, while direct human activities were most important in the DZ and BZ areas during the 2000s. 
Language:English 
Keywords:climatic variation; land cover change; human activities; runoff; SWAT; Wei River Basin