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Combined effects of temperature and precipitation on the spring runoff generation process in a seasonal freezing agricultural watershed

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Abstract

This study aims to investigate the combined effects of temperature and precipitation on the hydrological processes in a watershed with intensive agricultural land uses during the spring snowmelt period. Temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, frozen soil depth, and discharge were monitored during the freezing and thawing periods in 2014, 2015, and 2016 within the 75 km2 agricultural Heidingzi watershed in northeast China. The results indicated that high autumn rainfall and early precipitation, as well as the corresponding temperature rise, during the stable freezing period, increased the amount of surface water stored in the ice form before the spring runoff. These conditions produced a prolonged and increasing runoff event, and the highest runoff ratio of the ice melt runoff process during the thawing period in 2014. However, low autumn rainfall, dispersed precipitation, and negligible temperature rises during the stable freezing period in 2014–2015 led to a significant but short-term snowmelt runoff during the thawing period in 2015. Because of similar precipitation conditions as in 2014–2015 and a temperature rise event during the freezing period in 2015–2016, the runoff during the thawing period in 2016 was a combination of snow and ice melt; the runoff ratio during the early- and late-melt stages in the maize-dominated drainage region (DR) was the highest with the lowest precipitation. Additionally, the early low rainfall during the thawing period in 2014 increased the direct runoff ratios by 2–13 times for the entire watershed, DRM, and DRP-M, as early rainfall resulted in small soil thaw depth and low water storage. Different land use activities in the agricultural watershed supported the spatial and temporal differences and uncertainties in the spring snow or ice melt runoff generation process. Moreover, snowmelt simulation models can rarely distinguish between ice and snowmelt during spring runoff generation processes, probably leading to high uncertainty in simulating spring runoff response to climate change in seasonal freezing areas. This study reveals the characteristics and causes of snow and ice melt runoff processes in agricultural watersheds that experience seasonal freezing and provides a new perspective for improving the modeling of water generation processes.

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Data availability

The data support the findings of this study are not publicly available due to privacy. Zhao Qiang has full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. If needed, the data are available from him. E-mail address: zhaoqiangwhu@163.com.

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Funding

This research was jointly supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51790532, 51909175), and the State's Key Project of Research and Development Plan of China (2016YFC0402405).

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Authors

Contributions

QZ and XT conducted the experiments and prepared the first draft of the manuscript. QZ and HZ helped analyze the data and provided suggestions on improving the language of the manuscript. JW set up the experiments. JH provided suggestions on improving the language and the structure of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jing-wei Wu or Jie-sheng Huang.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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We would like to submit the enclosed manuscript entitled “Combined effects of temperature and precipitation on the spring runoff generation process in a seasonal freezing agricultural watershed”, which we wish to be considered for publication in “Environmental Earth Science”. The final version of the manuscript being submitted has been approved by all authors for publication. I would like to declare on behalf of my co-authors that the work described was original research that has not been published previously, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. All the authors listed have approved the manuscript that is enclosed.

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Zhao, Q., Tan, X., Zeng, Q. et al. Combined effects of temperature and precipitation on the spring runoff generation process in a seasonal freezing agricultural watershed. Environ Earth Sci 80, 490 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09777-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09777-2

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