Abstract Quantifying the influence of human activities on hydrological drought is of great significance to sustainable water resource management, but it remains difficult. The key to solving this problem is determining how to scientifically select the natural reference tributary. On the basis of existing research, this paper puts forward a tributary-comparison method that combines the Drought Propagation Intensity Index (DPI) with the human activity index to preliminarily and quantitatively determine the natural reference tributary from among all tributaries and then quantify the influence of human activities on hydrological drought in other tributaries. The empirical research was carried out in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River in the eastern area of Qilian Mountain. The results showed that, firstly, at the annual and seasonal scales, the tributaries in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River changed from hydrological humidification to hydrological aridification, from west to east, from 1961 to 2016. On the whole, the hydrological aridification of Huangyang River in the central part was the most serious, but its hydrological drought duration and drought Intensity showed a downward trend at a monthly scale. Secondly, using the tributary-comparison method, Xiying River was quantitatively selected as the natural reference tributary, and the influence of human activities on hydrological drought in other tributaries was quantified. On the whole, human activities will reduce hydrological drought duration and enhance hydrological drought intensity. The empirical study further proved that the tributary-comparison method has strong applicability in multi-tributary areas with obvious differences in human activities and provides a useful supplement to existing research methods. According to this method, tributaries that are weakly affected by human activity (or not affected at all) can be selected, and the tributaries least affected by human activity can also be identified. On this basis, the influence degree and direction of human activities in other tributaries on hydrological drought can be quantified.

中文翻译：

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量化人类对水文干旱影响的支流比较方法

摘要 量化人类活动对水文干旱的影响对可持续水资源管理具有重要意义，但仍存在困难。解决这一问题的关键是确定如何科学地选择自然参考支流。本文在已有研究的基础上，提出了一种将干旱传播强度指数（DPI）与人类活动指数相结合的支流比对方法，从各支流中初步定量确定自然参考支流，进而量化其影响。人类活动对其他支流水文干旱的影响。实证研究在祁连山东部石羊河上游进行。结果表明，首先，在年和季节尺度上，1961—2016年石羊河上游支流由水文湿化变为水文干旱化，由西向东。干旱持续时间和干旱强度均呈月度下降趋势。其次，采用支流比对法定量选取西营河作为自然参考支流，量化人类活动对其他支流水文干旱的影响。总体而言，人类活动将减少水文干旱持续时间，增加水文干旱强度。实证研究进一步证明，支流比较法在人类活动差异明显的多支流地区具有较强的适用性，为现有研究方法提供了有益的补充。根据这种方法，可以选择受人类活动影响较弱（或根本不受影响）的支流，也可以识别受人类活动影响最小的支流。在此基础上，可以量化其他支流人类活动对水文干旱的影响程度和方向。