ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Analyzing the Influences of ENSO and East Asian
Summer Winds on Water Discharge from Main
Tributaries in the Upper Yangtze River
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School of Geographic Information and Tourism, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou, China
Submission date: 2024-01-30
Final revision date: 2024-03-07
Acceptance date: 2024-03-27
Online publication date: 2024-08-05
Corresponding author
Zhicheng Pan
School of Geographic Information and Tourism, Chuzhou University, 239000, Chuzhou, China
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ABSTRACT
Based on the water discharge at Gaochang Hydrological Station (GCHS) in Minjiang River, Beibei
Hydrological Station (BBHS) in Jialingjiang River, and Wulong Hydrological Station (WLHS) in Wujiang
River from 1956 to 2018, this paper analyzes the trend changes, mutation years, and periodic changes
of water discharge at each hydrological station by methods of 5-a sliding average, M-K nonparametric
test, cumulative distance level test, and sliding t-test. Furthermore, we investigate the response of water
discharge changes to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and East Asian summer winds (EASW) by the
method of Morlet wavelet analysis. The results show that there are significant alternating characteristics
with wet-dry water discharge at each station. The inter-annual fluctuation of water discharge is relatively
moderate and generally shows a decreasing trend, among which the decreasing trend at GCHS is significant.
The mutation years of water discharge are 1969 and 1993 at GCHS, 1993 at BBHS, and 1993 and 2004
at WLHS. The water discharge series shows significant periodic variations at an interannual timescale
of 2 to 8 years and an interdecadal timescale of 16 to 17 years. The water discharge changes respond to
ENSO and EASW from lagging to overtaking with the increasing intensity of human activities, such as the
construction of water conservancy projects and soil and water conservation measures. Responses of water
discharge to ENSO have periodic variations at an interannual timescale of 2 to 6 years and an interdecadal
timescale of 16 to 17 years, and to EASW, and the joint action of ENSO and EASW has periodic variations
at an interannual timescale of 2 to 6 years.