Climate change and the Yellow River

The Yellow River is short of water resources; global warming will increase the conflict between water supply and water use. Analysis of the sensitivity of water resources to climate change is important in planning future development. From simulation of hypothetical climate scenarios, the River's reactions to climate change were analyzed. The results showed that runoff is more sensitive to precipitation change than to temperature change: runoff will increase 14%similar to18% if precipitation increase 10%, and 1degreesC rise in temperature will lead to 3.7%similar to6.6% change in runoff. Runoff in the second and third regions is more sensitive to climate change than that in other areas; ands due to abundant ground flow and snowmelt flow, water resources in the first region are test sensitive to climate change. Under the scenario of 20% change in precipitation and 2degreesC change in temperature, runoff will change 29%similar to40%.